Emma Barnett ‘thrilled’ to join Radio 4’s Today programme

In another four-star review of the programme, the Telegraph’s Chris Bennion said:, external “Her tone reassuring, her interviews pure silk and steel, Barnett’s first early shift bodes well for the future – unless you’re a politician.

“She handled the peaks and troughs of the three-hour stint well,” he continued, “even if it did take an hour or so for that 3am-start croak to leave her voice (can a voice sound bleary-eyed?)”

Barnett referred to Today as “this esteemed programme”, he noted, “showing perhaps that, for the first time, she considers the show she is presenting to be bigger than her.

“It is no slight to say that her work at 5 Live and on Woman’s Hour felt like stepping stones to somewhere else.”

The Daily Mail suggested, external listeners were divided over her arrival, noting that, while most welcomed her on the airwaves, some felt her treatment of a story about a sex education policy was too strong for breakfast radio.

The programme ended with a discussion about music playlists, prompted by Barnett’s comment that she used songs such as Gimme More by Britney Spears, Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin and Cold as Ice by MOP to help her prepare for her new role.

That item did not please everyone, however, with Bennion writing: “The excruciating – surely emergency filler – final segment on music playlists, with Edith Bowman and Jeffrey Boakye, was a stain on an otherwise solid debut.

“‘What does music mean to you?’ she asked Bowman, mystifyingly. Barnett is better than that sort of guff – something she had proved over the past three hours.”