POPULAR Radio Lancashire presenter Ted Robbins will no longer be gracing the weekday airwaves, as a result of BBC cutbacks.

But Ted will still be keeping busy as he will remain on air on a Sunday, and has plenty of television projects in the pipeline.

Ted lives in Crawshawbooth with wife Judy, and children Jack, 23, who works with his dad at the BBC, and Molly, 22, who has her own cake business.

He has just finished filming a new series of children’s talent show The Slammer for CBBC, which features singing Irish duo Jedward, and hit boy band Union J.

And he is in the process of filming a new series of Mount Pleasant, in which he plays Bobby Ball’s uncle, and he will also soon be appearing on TV in an episode of Celebrity Pointless.

In November, he will be going into rehearsals for panto Cinderella, which will mark his fifth year of panto at Preston’s Charter Theatre.

As if that wasn’t enough, he will also be travelling to London every Saturday night to appear as the warm-up man on Birds of a Feather, which is set to make a comeback, and he is even writing a new sitcom about a cruise ship.

Speaking about his week-day show, Ted said: “It was a bit sad, but I understand why it had to happen. I’m a freelancer and it’s because I’m expensive that they can’t really keep me.

“They can only really afford to keep staff on.

“The cuts have affected everybody, and they’ve affected the BBC.

“But I’ll still be doing it for a while on a Sunday, and I’ve got so many things on the go that it’ll be great to have a sit down!”

The BBC is also making some scheduling changes to its Radio Lancashire shows to save money.

The number of weekday shows will be cut from five to four.

The new Monday to Friday line-up will inc-lude presenters Graham Liver, Sally Naden and Brett Davison, John Gillmore, and Gary Hickson.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “It is no secret that under ‘Delivering Quality First’ financial considerations are important when it comes to making decisions.

"At the same time, Ted’s popularity has seen his TV commitments grow and he's been finding it increasingly difficult to juggle his schedule and this also played a part in our decision.

“We are extremely sorry to lose Ted mid-week, but delighted that he has agreed to present for us at the weekend.”