C5 withdraws pounds 1m Kirsty Young offer

EXECUTIVES AT Channel 5 withdrew their two-year pounds 1m-plus offer to the news anchor Kirsty Young yesterday after a furious bidding war and said Andrea Catherwood of ITV would replace her.

The station, which has been Ms Young's television home since its launch two years ago, had been fighting over a new contract for her with ITV. Now she is free to sign a deal with ITV after finishing her contract at the end of the year.

Ms Young, 30, became Channel 5's hottest talent and pioneered the laid- back approach to news by perching on the edge of her desk. Talks on her future have been dragging on for weeks and a station insider said: "We can't sit around waiting to see what she wants to do and be her safety net."

Ms Catherwood was to have worked on ITV's Millennium Night, reporting from St Thomas's Hospital in London if a baby was born as Big Ben strick midnight. But her new deal with Channel 5 begins on 1 January.

The 31-year-old journalist will present a series of other factual programmes across the channel, as well as news. At ITV, she handles the weekend news and stands in for Dermot Murnaghan and Julia Somerville on weekdays, as well as being medical correspondent.

She said yesterday: "I'm really thrilled to be joining Channel 5 at this exciting time with the channel's profile and ratings rising every month."

Dawn Airey, 5's director of programmes, said: "She's a very exciting talent and will add an extra dimension to Britain's most talked-about news show."

Ms Catherwood, from Co Down, made her big break by winning a BBC Young Reporter competition when she was 16. She became a reporter at UTV in Northern Ireland.