A FORMER producer of Newsnight says the BBC's flagship current affairs still has a future despite the crisis it has found itself in.

Cookham resident Chrissy Rosenthal, who worked with Jeremy Paxman on the BBC 2 programme in the 1980s, backed it to continue after the errors which led to Director General George Entwistle quitting.

Newsnight landed itself - and the BBC- in hot water after broadcasting a report with claims from a sexual abuse victim which proved false.

It followed a scandal that the show had failed to broadcast allegations about Jimmy Savile, before an ITV documentary broke the news.

Mrs Rosenthal, whose long career in news producing included working on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 and Breakfast news on BBC TV, said:

"The BBC is a vast conglomerate of all kinds of channels, radio, television and yet the whole outfit was condemned for poor decision making on a small, albeit important section of it. That was a bit tough but they shouldn't make mistakes."

She does not believe it is the end for the show, fronted by Jeremy Paxman, who she worked with in her time.

She said: "Programmes need refreshing every now and again but personally I don't think this is the time to do it because it's admitting defeat, you've got to battle on."

The Newsnight saga unfolded when she was in Thailand holidaying with husband Jim, the well known TV sports presenter.

Mrs Rosenthal said: "It was that awful feeling when I was abroad, almost like a favourite nephew has had an accident. It was really weird watching it all remotely."