New culture secretary Lisa Nandy dropped by dock10 studios to visit Hacker T Dog over the weekend, promising her fellow Wiganite to “move the BBC to Wigan” in the process.
We suspect Nandy may have been joking about her ambitious plans for the broadcaster, which also included shutting the BBC down, but if the Wigan move does go ahead she might like to note that Hacker’s favourite part of the Greater Manchester town is Hindley.
Hacker T Dog, is a Border Terrier dog puppet who appears on the CBBC television channel in the United Kingdom. He is voiced by puppeteer Phil Fletcher.
Hacker was introduced as a character in the CBBC television programme Scoop, originally performed by Andy Heath.
After the character became popular, Hacker was added as a weekday presenter at CBBC in 2009, with the puppetry and voice now being performed by Phil Fletcher. The character has a comedic and sarcastic personality and is very fond of Wimbledon presenter Sue Barker. In 2009 Hacker was the mascot for the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship.
In a slightly more serious appearance on BBC Breakfast on Monday morning, Nandy reiterated new PM Keir Starmer’s commitment to the BBC Licence Fee until at least 2027: “We are committed in our manifesto to the BBC and to the licensing scheme,” the prime minister has said. “There’s going to be some more thought between now and [2027], but we are committed.”
