BBC Studios has lost the rights to produce long-running quiz show Mastermind, which was previously produced at MediaCityUK.
The BBC2 show will be made by independent production companies Hat Trick and Hindsight and will now move to Northern Ireland.
Mastermind was put out to tender in August as part of the Corporation’s Charter requirement to open up more of the shows to competition.
John Humphrys, who has announced he will be leaving the Today programme, will continue to present the show and a BBC source told the Press Association that Mastermind would be returning to its “interrogation style”.
Magnus Magnusson hosted the show from 1972 on BBC One and it was dropped in 1997 before returning on BBC Two in 2003 with Humphrys as a new question master.
