Sir Alan still hired for Apprentice, says BBC
Sir Alan Sugar will continue on The Apprentice after the BBC decided his new role as a Government adviser would 'not compromise the BBC's impartiality', the corporation said. Questions had been raised about whether his new 'enterprise tsar' role could breach the corporation's impartiality rules. Sir Alan said: "I am passionate about business and enterprise and that has always been my motivation for wanting to take on this role. "I am glad that following detailed discussions, the BBC is satisfied that I will not be doing anything to affect its commitment to impartiality." In a statement the BBC said: "Following detailed discussions with Sir Alan Sugar, the BBC is satisfied that his new role as an Enterprise Champion to the Government will not compromise the BBC's impartiality or his ability to present The Apprentice. "Sir Alan is not going to be making policy for the Government nor does he have a duty to endorse Government policy. "Moreover, Sir Alan has agreed that he will suspend all public facing activity relating to this unpaid post in the lead up to and during any shows that he is presenting on the BBC." The sixth series of The Apprentice is expected to be broadcast in Spring 2010.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.