Sun sets for Seven’s Sunrise star Melissa Doyle as TV shake-up continues
Popular Channel 7 presenter and Sunrise saviour Melissa Doyle departs Seven today after 25 years amid savage cost cutting.
After a quarter of a century, former Sunrise host Melissa Doyle is parting ways with the Seven Network.
Doyle started with Seven in 1995, in its Parliament House bureau in Canberra, before moving to the Sydney newsroom and hosting the broadcaster’s flagship news bulletin and Today Tonight.
I have some personal news to share. After twenty-five years I am leaving the Seven Network. Whilst I am sad to be leaving, I do so with a great deal of pride, satisfaction and gratitude.
— Melissa Doyle (@melissadoyle) August 21, 2020
Every ending is a beginning and I’m excited for what comes next. https://t.co/qYfTnMLOBo pic.twitter.com/Va23lLBoeO
But the axing of Sunday Night, Seven’s current affairs program last year, led to speculation Doyle would also depart the network — she had most recently presented the late-night news.
Doyle announced her departure in a statement on Friday morning.
“I am incredibly proud of the work I have done and appreciative of the trust and warmth our viewers have shown me. I want to thank the consummate professionals I have worked with along the way, in particular (Seven West Media chairman) Kerry Stokes for his constant support,” she wrote.
“I leave Seven with a great deal of pride, satisfaction and gratitude.”
Her departure from Seven is the latest in a string of high-profile changes across the commercial television networks, with Network Ten last week axing some of its best-known talent including Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Natarsha Belling and weatherman Tim Bailey.
The changes at Ten, the first major changes since the broadcaster was purchased by American giant CBS (now ViacomCBS), including the axing of dedicated prime-time news bulletins in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth from mid-September. The Nine Network has also cut staff across its regional bureaus in Queensland, southern New South Wales and Victoria.
Seven news director Craig McPherson said Doyle had been “classy, professional and a delight”.
“From reporting to presenting to mentoring her colleagues, Mel has been a fundamental part of the Seven Network’s news and public affairs team for more than two decades,” he said on Friday.
“On behalf of all her former and current colleagues here at Seven, I’d like to thank her for contributing so much to our successes and wish her every success in her next endeavour.”
While at Seven, Doyle has covered the Beaconsfield mine disaster, the Olympic Games in Sydney, Athens and Beijing, as well as the Lindt cafe siege. She joined Sunrise in 1997 and co-hosted the breakfast program until August 2017, when she was replaced by Samantha Armytage.
Doyle also hosts weekend breakfast on Smooth FM.
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