FORMER Radio 1 presenter Edith Bowman has insisted she was "edged out" of the station and has accused her BBC bosses of "lies".
Bowman, from Anstruther, said she was left speechless and felt "incredibly let down" after she was moved to a quieter weekend breakfast show slot in 2009 from her usual weekday afternoon programme.
Speaking to Psychologies magazine, she said it was a decision that "absolutely floored her" at the time.
“Lies and deceit are extremely strong words, but the discussions I’d been having with my boss at the time about my future were very far from what I was being told in the meeting,” she said.
"The conversation was the opposite of what I was expecting and it absolutely floored me. So I just felt incredibly let down because I’d given everything I had.
"At the time I was too speechless and upset about it. [If it happened again] I’d definitely be more honest now about how I felt I’d been treated by the individuals in that room, and the lies I’d been told.”
The mother-of-two has since gone on to host a weekend morning show on BBC 6 Music and her own podcast, and last year presented the Baftas.
She was replaced on the weekend morning show in 2012 and moved to The Review Show on Tuesdays at 9pm.
She added: "I would ask what had changed from the conversations we’d had up to that point.
"I knew that I was being edged out by Radio 1, but The Review Show ended up being one of the most joyous experiences I had in my time there. I think they saw something to give me as a demotion, [but it] was actually exactly what I’d been looking for. And so, when I did leave [in 2014], I left on a high.”
A spokesman for BBC Radio 1 said: “As we said at the time, Edith was one of a number of departures announced in June 2014 to enable Radio 1 and 1Xtra to deliver some of the savings they were being asked to make as part of the wider BBC’s financial challenges following the licence fee settlement.”
