BBC Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull is leaving the show after 15 years to spend more time with his bees.

Bill confirmed the news on Twitter, commenting on a story from The Mirror, writing: “He’s right, you know.”

BBC Breakfast posted two photos of him on the trademark red sofa with his fellow female presenters, who were wiping tears away.

BBC Breakfast presenters (left to right) Sally Nugent, Bill Turnbull and Louise Minchin attend the TRIC Awards at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London in 2015. (Ian West/PA)
BBC Breakfast presenters Sally Nugent, Bill Turnbull and Louise Minchin (Ian West/PA)

Bill is believed to be leaving to spend more time with his wife, and his beloved bees, of course.

The 59-year-old told The Mirror: He said: “I agreed to come North for two years and it went so well I agreed to do another two years.”

“That is coming to an end – by that time I will have been doing the show for nearly 15 years which is more than enough for me and the audience.”

“So it is a good time to call it a day and do something else. It was a long term decision.

“I could see this coming up, and it was always the plan. I’ll leave early next year.”

“There is some sadness, but no regrets.”

He’s due to leave the show in early 2016, and will be making a move to Suffolk.

Talking about his bees, he told the paper: “I have been neglecting my bees for far too long. They are on a farm, they were going to come up here to the Lakes where we live but it was too windy.

“They are down in Buckinghamshire, I don’t see them very often but they don’t seem to mind!”

The presenter also admitted his early, 3am starts were something “you never get used to”.