Rachel Burden says her last Sunday on the Breakfast sofa will come before the schedule changes in September. After more than 10 years on the weekend shift, she says the run is ending with “no complaints” and a promised Sunday lie-in.
Her Instagram post set out the change plainly: “This is my last Sunday on the @bbcbreakfast sofa before the schedule changes in September - no complaints there, we have to cut our cloth.” She added: “But having done this for 10+ years, just wanted to say a massive thanks to the team who’ve worked through their Saturday nights to put the programme together, my Breakfast buddies Roger and @benthompsontv (among other lovely fellas who I’ve shared the sofa with) and of course the divine @fieldsofpoppys who puts me together most weeks. Thanks for watching. Here’s to a guaranteed Sunday lie-in.”
September changes at Breakfast
From September, One’s Breakfast will no longer air on Sunday mornings. Burden’s departure follows that switch, so the practical result is not a routine handover but the end of her weekend presenting slot as it has existed for 10+ years.
The is also cutting £80 million from programming across TV, radio and news. In the same round of changes, production teams making Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and Newsnight will merge, The World Tonight will end from September, and the number of permanent presenters on Today will fall from five to four.
That wider reset also includes a single anchor for Today on Saturdays and the replacement of Breakfast on Sunday by the News Channel. For viewers, the immediate takeaway is simple: the Sunday breakfast format is going away, and Burden’s regular place on it is going with it.
Rachel Burden’s last Sunday
Burden’s post did not read like a broadcaster forced into silence. It read like someone closing a long, familiar shift on her own terms. Nicky Campbell replied, “You are brilliant.” Matt Taylor added, “Noooooo!! I didn’t realise it was your last one Rachel. Glad I got to share it with you though - whether it’s ont’telebox or over the airwaves you’re a joy to work with x”.
Back in June, Matt Brittin said the must be “simpler and faster” going forward and avoid duplication. That language now shows up in the schedule cuts around Burden’s exit: fewer strands, fewer duplicate presentations, and fewer roles, with between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs expected to go in the coming months, including 550 in the ’s news and nations divisions.
Burden’s note lands as both a farewell and a sign of the new shape of the output. Her weekend role is ending because the Sunday edition itself is ending, and the only real open point left is whether she turns up on Breakfast in any other capacity after September.
