Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo are ending their 5 Live film show

Film critic Mark Kermode and radio presenter Simon Mayo are to leave their long-running Friday film review programme on BBC Radio 5 Live.

The pair have presented the show on the network for 21 years. Their last programme will air on Friday, 1 April.

It has not yet been announced who will replace them, nor whether the duo plan to take the format to another station.

But Mayo, who also presents a show on Greatest Hits Radio, indicated that the film programme will return elsewhere.

"After 21 years, the Flagship Film Show @Wittertainment will make its final 5 Live voyage on April 1st," he tweeted. "But like [Spinal] Tap, we'll be back… Stay tuned."

In an official statement, the pair made clear that the decision to leave was their own.

"Twenty-one years is a long time to be clogging up the schedules," they said. "We - and no-one else - have decided to step away, to spread our wings, to exit, pursued by a bear."

Kermode will continue to present Screenshot alongside Ellen E Jones on BBC Radio 4 and his regular film review on the BBC News Channel.

The BBC said the 5 Live Drive programme would move to an earlier 16:00 start time on Fridays, adding that further updates would follow on other scheduling changes.

Recent guest hosts to have covered the show when Kermode and Mayo have been on holiday include The Telegraph's Robbie Collin, Radio 1's Ali Plumb, writer and critic Anna Bogutskaya, broadcaster Edith Bowman and actor Rufus Jones.

Mayo also used to present a show on BBC Radio 2, but exited the station in 2018 after a revamped drivetime show he co-hosted with Jo Whiley proved unpopular with listeners.

He continued to co-host the weekly 5 Live show with Kermode after leaving Radio 2, but also took a new role with media giant Bauer, presenting shows on its classical station Scala Radio and the popular music station Greatest Hits Radio.