Andy Parsons ‘disappointed’ he wasn’t replaced with female team captain on Mock The Week-Charlotte Manning-Entertainment – Metro

Andy has shared his thoughts after it was announced the show had been axed (Picture: BBC)

Former Mock The Week team captain Andy Parsons has shared how he always wanted the BBC to replace him with a ‘female team captain’ after he quit in 2015. 

Earlier this week, it was confirmed the BBC’s Mock The Week had been axed after 17 years, and over 200 episodes. 

Dara O Briain, who fronted the programme, confirmed the news, sarcastically saying the ‘UK has finally run out of news’.

Andy was on the panel for 10 years as a team captain alongside the likes of other regulars, Hugh Dennis, Frankie Boyle and Russell Howard. 

But when the 55-year-old decided to bow out, he explained he wanted to be replaced by a woman on the panel. 

He told Metro.co.uk: ‘I said that I thought it would be great if they had, in the same way that they’d had me on the show sort of every episode for however many series it was, if they had a female team captain, to replace me. That never happened.

The show was criticised at times for not having a very diverse panel (Picture: BBC)

When asked whether he was ‘disappointed’ not to see the move take place, he agreed: ‘Yeah, very much so. 

‘But it was nice to also to see, there were obviously many episodes where there was no female representation at all, it was nice to see that the producers were finally listening. 

Andy was a regular on the show until 2015 (Picture: BBC/Angst Productions/Richard kendal)

‘We would always be coming up with suggestions for panellists and it was nice to see that some of those suggestions were suddenly coming through.

‘It was lovely to see that the gender balance wasn’t as skewed as it had been in the past.’

It comes as Andy weighed in on why he believes it is the right time to be ‘put to bed’ after the BBC’s decision. 

He told us: ‘Look, I think in a sense the producers are very keen for it to have another life because it obviously is important for their production company. 

‘In terms of the show itself, if it was me, I would put it to bed quite happily and come up with a new idea.’

It’s not yet known whether the show will find another home, but its creator Dan Petterson seemed hopeful when chatting to Metro.co.uk this week.

‘There have been some conversations,’ he teased, when asked if there have been discussions about shipping it to another network. ‘Although there’s nothing concrete.’

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In the past, other comedy shows which have been shelved by the broadcaster have managed to find a home elsewhere.

In 2021, The Mash Report UKTV channel Dave as Late Night Mash after being cancelled, but host Nish Kumar soon stepped away from the revived version.

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