A BBC spokesman said: "Due to inflation and funding challenges, difficult decisions have to be made, therefore Question Of Sport is currently not in production at the moment."

The national broadcaster cited "value for money" for BBC licence fee payers, which has seen the network reshuffle its squad of shows to prioritise high-impact content that drives viewers to BBC iPlayer.

A BBC source advised that this is not the final whistle for the programme, which first aired in 1970.

The suspension of A Question Of Sport comes after Sue Barker was dropped as a presenter in 2020, alongside long-running team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell.

Paddy McGuinness took over alongside team captains Sam Quek and Ugo Monye, but their tenure only lasted two seasons.

The move also follows the broadcaster announcing last month that long-running motoring show Top Gear would be rested "for the foreseeable future".

Production of the show had been halted since former England cricket captain Andrew Flintoff, 45, was taken to hospital in December 2022 after he was injured in an accident at the test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.