Former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has said fronting Channel 4’s UK election coverage will feel like “going home”.
The co-host of The News Agents podcast, who revealed she was leaving the BBC in 2022, is to be at the helm alongside broadcaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
The 53-year-old appears in the August issue of Tatler magazine alongside broadcasters Kay Burley, who will anchor Election Night Live for Sky, and Mishal Husain, who is standing in for Sophie Raworth for the BBC’s general election leaders’ debate.
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Maitlis told Tatler: “There was a little rivalry between Channel 4 News and Newsnight.
“We always used to fight for the same guests and the same stories. I feel like I’m going home.”
According to the magazine, Maitlis realised she wanted to cover the election while watching the America Decides election episode of HBO drama Succession, about warring siblings in a media dynasty.
Maitlis’s return as TV host comes following cuts to current affairs programme Newsnight, which she began presenting in 2006 before announcing her departure in 2022.
Reflecting on this, she said: “It kind of broke my heart, actually.
“The whole programme is obviously going through a massive change, and I sort of had a pinch-myself moment.
“What’s weird is you’re in the process of helping to write that first draft of history, but you don’t always realise it at the time.”
Speaking further about the election, she said: “Either it’s the first change of government for 15 years or it’s the most incredible comeback you’ve ever seen.
“The hardest thing this time will be that I won’t have heard of most of the candidates.”
This year has seen the second-highest number of former MPs to stand down ahead of an election in modern political history.
One of Maitlis’s most famous Newsnight interviews was with the Duke of York over his friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, which was recently portrayed on screen in Netflix drama Scoop.
See the full feature in the August issue of Tatler, available through digital download and on newsstands from Thursday, June 27th.
