Grand Prix (TV programme)

The first broadcast of the programme came at the 1978 Monaco Grand Prix.[4] The corporation had initially shown the odd race that featured on the calendar before they showed some of the races live in Sunday Grandstand and the rest as highlights in Grand Prix. The show had featured one of the most iconic theme tunes in sport, with Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain".[5] 1979 saw James Hunt join the commentary booth alongside Walker after Hunt announced his retirement from racing that year. By the 1990s all of the European races were broadcast live with the summer races shown as part of Sunday Grandstand, with highlights on the Grand Prix programme. Some races were shown on Grand Prix due to either race times in the morning/evening or because Grandstand was showing another major event at the same time. 1992 saw Jonathan Palmer join as a pit reporter for the live races but following the 1993 Canadian Grand Prix, Hunt died from a heart attack and was replaced in the commentary box by Jonathan Palmer. For the following race in France, BBC aired a tribute show to Hunt following their highlights show. In 1995, all the races were shown live and all qualifying sessions were shown live in 1996. previously qualifying was shown as a brief report during Grandstand, apart from qualifying for the British Grand Prix which was generally shown live and in full. Many of these live races were fronted by either Steve Rider or Sue Barker.

In 1995 it was announced that the BBC had lost the television broadcast rights to Formula One to ITV for the 1997 season. Murray Walker would continue in his role as the lead commentator.[6] The final race broadcast by the programme was the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix in which viewers saw Damon Hill win his only world championship. The loss of coverage was an example of BBC Sport department's decline in the late 1990s.

In March 2008, ITV announced the coverage would be transferred to the BBC from the 2009 season.

In July 2011, BBC announced that half their races would be live from 2012 and got a contract to 2018 with Sky Sports covering all races. Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz left BBC for Sky and the end of 2011 and were replaced by Ben Edwards as lead commentator and former Jordan Grand Prix designer Gary Anderson joining as reporter and technical analyst. Jake Humphrey continued to host, Eddie Jordan analysed on live races and David Coulthard stayed as colour commentator. Humphrey was forced to skip Canada and Europe due to him hosting Euro 2012 for BBC's Match of the Day and then skipped Germany and Hungary due to him hosting the 2012 Olympics for BBC, Lee McKenzie filled in for him at these races and her role was taken by Tom Clarkson. Humphrey left at the end of 2012 to join BT Sport and was replaced by Suzi Perry, Allan McNish joined as analyst and Clarkson joined full time. BBC aired all three practice session for their live races on BBC Two or BBC Three. Anderson left at the end of 2013. The BBC kept their remaining staff for 2014 and 2015.

In late 2015, BBC wanted a budget cut of £21 million to the sports department. In December 2015, BBC axed Grand Prix as part of their budget cuts and was replaced by Channel 4 from 2016.[7]

Some episodes are still available but hidden on the BBC's website.