BBC cuts service to the world

Among the programmes being cut are a series of radio plays, a weekly hour-long broadcast during the Proms season and a Wimbledon show that runs every day of the tennis tournament.

But coverage of the Proms will continue in other arts programmes and sports bulletins will continue to cover Wimbledon. Details of the cuts were revealed in a leaked email from controller of English Global News at the corporation Craig Oliver.

A BBC spokesman said: "Like all of the public sector, BBC World Service is having to respond to the challenges of an increasingly difficult financial climate at home and abroad."

The cuts come after Foreign Secretary William Hague told MPs that the World Service played a "crucial role in our soft power" but that its funding could not be guaranteed.

It is expected to face cuts to its grant from the Foreign Office in the forthcoming spending review announced to Parliament on October 20. The World Service started broadcasting in 1932 and it is estimated that some 182 million people listen to its programmes, transmitted in 32 different languages, every week.