STAFF from BBC North are to join colleagues from across the country in a series of strikes to protest at planned job cuts.

Unions said plans by the BBC's director general Mark Thompson to close or outsource 3,780 posts nationally would mean one in five BBC jobs in the region could go.

TV presenters, including Look North's Carol Malia and Lara Rostron, will join radio presenters, journalists and technicians in a demonstration at Newcastle's Monument when the first 24-hour strike takes place on Monday.

The demonstration will take place between noon and 2pm. Further 48-hour strikes are planned for May 31 and June 1.