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Mary Berry, Claudia Winkleman, and Olivia Colman land on radio and TV's most powerful women list


September 2, 2014
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Great British Bake Off  host Mary Berry, sports presenter Clare Balding, and BAFTA winner Olivia Colman have all found themselves on the new Radio Times most powerful women of radio and TV list.

Radio Times TV editor Allison Graham said: "A revolution has been rumbling quietly in the background and it's now reached the foreground as clever, talented and formidable women prove that our gender provides much more than disposable props."

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GBBO host Mary Berry and Broadchurch star Olivia Colman 

New Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman is also on the list, which is in no particular order, and is joined by craft queen and Location Location Location host Kirstie Allsopp.Claudia will host the new season of the hit BBC show this autumn, replacing Sir Bruce Forsyth who left the show earlier in 2014 after 11 seasons. She also fronts Film 2014 and The Great British Sewing Bee.

Speaking of Claudia's appointment, Allison added: "Light entertainment, which has limped along for decades behind the skirts of grinning quiz-show hostesses who existed only to make the men look good, at last comes, blinking, into the spotlight as Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly host Strictly Come Dancing."

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New Strictly host Claudia Winkleman is on the list along with Kirstie Allsopp

She continued: "Yes, two women hosting one of the biggest shows on television, all by themselves! "The fact that this is such a big deal in 2014 shows just how pitifully slowly television has reacted to the seismic changes in wider society."

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Clare Balding and Sheridan Smith join the list of TV and radio's most powerful women

Drawn up by Allison, Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray, BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry, Comic Relief co-founder Emma Freud, Pointless quizmaster Richard Osman, and Victoria Brooks, founder and director of Milk Publicity, the list is split between on screen stars such as Mary and off screen stars including writers, producers, and directors.

Call The Midwife creator Heidi Thomas and BAFTA nominee and Birdsong writer Abi Morgan are also on the list.Other celebrities joining Mary, Claudia, and Clare include Sheridan Smith, Julie Walters, and Dawn French.

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