Question Time is returning to TV screens – days after the pay of its host Fiona Bruce was revealed.
The flagship BBC One political show will be back tonight (Thursday) with a slightly larger virtual audience than in the last series.
It scrapped studio audiences following advice about social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.
A message from Fiona as #bbcqt returns to @BBCOne this Thursday night.
Join our virtual audience from Oldham and put your questions to the panel here: https://t.co/GxfN9mG9ix pic.twitter.com/xsrJZpWQn5
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) September 14, 2020
Figures published by the BBC on Tuesday showed Bruce is earning between £450,000 and £454,999 since landing the role of Question Time presenter, up by around £195,000.
She appealed to viewers to join the virtual audience for the new series.
“I can’t wait to get started with Question Time. We’re coming back on air at a time where our elected representatives are making crucial decisions that will affect all of us, from coronavirus to Brexit,” Bruce said.
“What better time for our audience to be able to make their views heard and get their questions answered?”
Question Time is back on @BBCOne at 10:45pm on Thursday. We're returning with a studio panel and a virtual audience from home.
Apply here to join us: https://t.co/8dvQCEakMm #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/DlQAuyQDoA
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) September 15, 2020
The topical debate programme has been on a summer break.
It will have a virtual audience of 16, up from 12 in the last series, comprising people from a different location each week and projected on to a large wall in the studio, which is just outside London.
The BBC confirmed the panellists for the first show, when the series returns, will be Business and Industry Minister Nadhim Zahawi; shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth; Tory party donor and Phones4u co-founder John Caudwell, novelist Nicci Gerrard and Sunetra Gupta, Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, University of Oxford.