Will David Dimbleby appear on Strictly Come Dancing after leaving Question Time?

Veteran television presenter David Dimbleby could swap shuffling cue cards for shuffling his feet as he’s tipped to appear on the new series of Strictly Come Dancing following his Question Time exit.

Dimbleby, 79, will leave the political debate programme at the end of the year to return to reporting, which he calls his “first love” .

But punters fancy a flutter on what Dimbleby could get up to next, putting him at 8/1 to appear on Strictly Come Dancing.

If the ballroom isn’t his thing, you can get 50/1 odds that Dimbleby will be heading Down Under for I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

However, both of these seem incredibly unlikely, not least because his last broadcast of the Thursday night BBC show will be on December 13.

Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark is currently the favourite to replace the broadcasting icon as 6/4 with Emily Maitlis and Nicky Campbell some length behind at 10/1.

Other names tentatively in the hat include Huw Edwards at 20/1, Jeremy Paxman at 33/1 (the same as Piers Morgan!) and a rather longshot 100/1 for Jeremy Kyle.

In a statement, Dimbleby stressed that it felt like the right moment for him to leave the show he has chaired for 24 years.

He said: “At the end of the year I will have been chairing Question Time for a quarter of a century and I have decided that this is the right moment to leave.

“It has been a privilege to work for a programme which brings voters face to face with those in power.

“I am grateful to the production teams and to the BBC who have made this possible. I am not giving up broadcasting. Instead, after years in the studio, I now plan to return to my first love: reporting.”

Question Time airs Thursday 21 June at 10.55pm on BBC One.