You don’t have to be a former UK Superperson to deduce that all is not quite well with Gordon Burns.

Today he’s late into work, the new phone system in the North West Tonight newsroom is getting his goat and he’s in demand for the 12 o’clock production meeting.

His flat, almost cagey “can we delay this for 15 minutes?” suggests he’d rather we delayed this indefinitely. But quarter of an hour later Burns is back and more prepared, yet still far removed from his usual avuncular onscreen self. It is not a promising start to our interview.

Bona fide media legend

Fresh come September 

He continues, “There’ll be a change in the programme come Monday September 10th. There’ll be a whole new look, a whole new set – big screens and all the rest of it – and it’ll be a double header with myself and young Ranvir Singh co-presenting. So it’ll be completely fresh come September.”

Although on the surface this sounds like an upbeat assessment of the show’s imminent facelift, Burns’ resigned delivery conveys that he’s clearly not as refreshed by the changes as the BBC executives hope the audience will be.

A quick question about the transition from flying solo to co-piloting confirms this: “I’ve always been more of a fan of a single presenter,” he admits, “but I have no problem with going double headed and I get on very well with Ranvir. Hopefully it’ll be a good pairing, but only time and the audience will tell.”

Explaining his reservations it quickly becomes apparent that Burns has been, well, burnt before.

“Will it be difficult to adjust? Well time will tell. I’ve always preferred to be a single presenter and that’s generally what I’ve always done.

“That said, The Krypton Factor went double-header in its last year, but then that was a disastrous last year when ITV in London, for reasons best known to themselves, radically changed the whole programme. The rounds changed, the whole system of scoring changed, the look of it changed and they brought in a second presenter, Penny Smith from TV-am.

All is well 

Despite this impression he insists “all is well” and jokes that the powers that be are probably just looking to reinvigorate proceedings as “well, I am getting on a bit.”

There’s no denying that, but there’s also no denying the incredible, and quite possibly unique, affection that this regional news anchor is held in by his audience.

This was demonstrated to startling effect in the media warm up to the Champions League final in Athens this year, when Burns was mobbed on camera by hordes of Liverpool fans, pulling him into the middle of their melee and singing ‘there’s only one Gordon Burns’ again and again. It was a surreal scene.

“I find it absolutely staggering,” he admits freely. “You just do the programme in your own style and you don’t really think about it. You don’t get the idea of any sort of reaction until you get out and do something like that at a big event. And then you just think, why?

“As my wife says ‘if they saw you in your pyjamas in the morning picking your nose they wouldn’t treat you like that.’”

Unwanted images of nasal excavations aside, Burns’ acolytes should be able to enjoy his presence on screen for some time to come. Despite the fact that he is ‘getting on a bit’ and will be sharing the hosting duties from September, he still intends to be a fixture on screen for the remainder of his current contract with the BBC.

“I love what I do and my ambition is to do it for a fair bit longer. I’ve got another three years on the contract, so I’m very happy with that.

“The mere thought of retirement I find horrific,” he concludes. “I’m not a person who would ever, ever want to retire by choice. I think I’d feel devastated having nothing to do. But the decision as you get older tends not to be your own. The key is to get out before they kick you out, but at the minute everything’s fine, everything’s going well and I’m very happy with it.”

And as the interview draws to a close he actually sounds it.

His fans will be hoping he stays that way come September. As, after all, there may be two presenters on screen by then, but there’ll only ever be one Gordon Burns.


End piece...Burns on…

TV – “I don’t think you can ever presume that anything will last long in television. It rarely works out that way.”

The Krypton Factor – “I had a closer relationship to that programme than a quiz show presenter would normally have…It was a labour of love.”

Bringing it back – “There’s been a lot of talk but no more than that. It’d be highly unlikely I’d want to do it. Anyway, if they brought it back the chances are, as television is these days, they’d go for a handsome young person to do it, not me.”

The possibility of a ‘Celebrity Krypton Factor’ – “I would hate to see that personally.”

Writing a book – “No one would buy it.”

Which football team he actually supports – “I never reveal that. As North West Tonight presenter I remain neutral and have a great affection for all the northwest clubs. Anybody that’s seen me at the match every week with my season ticket seats will know, but publicly I won’t say. I’m just a football fan.”

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