Fiona Bruces Roadshow Delivers Big Value for BBC

Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but Fiona Bruce is the 's best-value star.

Corporation bean-counters discovered Fiona's actually delivers the best value for money for licence-fee payers, former BBC1 controller Peter Fincham reveals.

But he was ordered not to tell anyone as it would have led to awkward questions about the millions of pounds lavished on prestige dramas 'nobody watches'. 

Fincham, 69, says internal figures showed the long-running Sunday night favourite topped the BBC's 'cost value per hour' chart.

'It has a huge audience of 6.5million and cost tuppence ha'ppeny to make,' he explains. 'I said, 'Why aren't we out there making this point?'

But he was warned not to go public by colleagues, who told him: 'We can't do that.

'The minute we say, 'Antiques Roadshow is the best cost value per hour', people will say, 'What's the worst?' Then they'll come to expensive dramas that nobody watches but are winning Bafta awards.

'Once you've lifted the curtain and shine a light in, you can't turn it off again.'

Bruce, below, has presented the programme since 2008, when she replaced Michael Aspel. The newsreader, 61, who also hosts Question Time, earns up to £415,000 a year. 

She is the BBC's fifth highest-paid presenter but is expected to move up the list, published each summer, following the departure of Gary Lineker.

Another of Fincham's revelations from his time in the hotseat was his method for picking which shows to 'green light'.

Fincham – who quit the BBC after a row over a trailer wrongly depicting the late Queen 'storming out' of a photoshoot – admitted he commissioned a Robin Hood series in 2006 for a rather unusual reason. 

The 2006 programme, starring Keith Allen, was selected because he missed the original Adventures Of Robin Hood as a child after being sent to bed early, Fincham told the Insiders: TV podcast.

Stars pay their respects at Fox's final curtain 

His widow Fiona Golfar described his death, 'looking out to his flower-filled garden... on a glorious spring afternoon', as 'the epitome of an elegant Robert Fox production'.

So it was fitting that the acclaimed producer's funeral, held on Thurday at All Saints Fulham in west London, was dappled with sunshine and spangled with any number of Foxes from Robert's acclaimed theatrical family, including his nephew Freddie.

They were joined by Gillian Anderson, one of the stars of The Crown – the Netflix series Fox, 73, worked on. 

Nigella Lawson, a long-time friend of Robert's widow, and Bill Nighy were also among 300 mourners paying tribute at Fox's final curtain.

Dining on His Majesty's orders

Having written about King Charles's Coronation for the Daily Mail, Lady Glenconner was summoned by His Majesty.

'I got a call from my daughter Amy,' says Anne, 93, who was a maid of honour at Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in 1953. 'She said, 'Buckingham Palace wants to get in touch with you', so my heart sank because I thought I was in trouble.'

Instead, the King invited her to a one-on-one dinner.

'He looked at me and said, 'How was it, Anne?' I said, 'Magnificent, sir, but different'.' She adds: 'It had to be.'

A Penny for Don's thoughts  

Dame Penny Mordaunt, who , has caught the eye of Donald Trump.

I hear the US President sent the former Commons Leader a gushing letter after he was given a copy of her book, Pomp & Circumstance: Why Britain's Traditions Matter.

'I am delighted that he enjoyed it,' she tells me at the launch party for my colleague Robert Hardman's book, Elizabeth II, at Hatchards in London's Piccadilly.

But did he actually read it? Tony Schwartz, who , once said Trump had 'written' more books than he had ever read.

The Rolling Stones are rumoured to be announcing their 25th album shortly, but Keith Richards admits he's been forced to change the way he plays guitar. 

'I do have arthritis and very large knuckles,' says Keef, 82. 'I'm going for a wider fingerboard for that reason. Honestly, I just look at my hands, and my hands look at me, and we say, 'Well, let's see what we can do today'.'

Emereld Fennell helped revive Sophie Ellis-Bextor's career when the Oscar-winning director used 2001 hit Murder On The Dancefloor in her film, Saltburn. And the pop star's still making a killing. Newly filed accounts for her firm, Douglas Valentine Ltd, reveal it's amassed assets worth more than £2.6million.

Charles' ambitions laid bare as profits roll in 

King Charles appears to have ambitious plans for the Palace shops.

I can disclose that James Lambert, who co-founded designer outlet Bicester Village, has been appointed as a director of the Royal Collection's commercial arm.

Royal Collection Enterprises saw a £7million profit on £69million in turnover last year. It is the world's largest private art collection.