It may be something you’ve never noticed before, but a scroll across our breakfast television shows will reveal a strange phenomenon in the position of its two main hosts. Most morning TV shows tend to opt for one male host sitting next to a female presenter. But in a bizarre but recurring move on BBC Breakfast, the male host nearly always sat on the left while his co-presenter sat on the right.

Whether it’s a news show, a chat show, or any form of presenting duo, this strange gender role always seems to be present. Industry experts claim this is because the left positions, as we see it, are reserved for the more senior positions, but BBC Breakfast’s line-up ignores that trend and has opted for the positions anyway.

When Dan Walker was first brought into the lineup in 2016, he took the senior left-hand position over the more experienced Louise Minchin, and no matter what the lineup is in the current presenting team of Jon Kay, Sally Nugent, Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty, the woman always takes the right seat in what seems like an ancient protocol.

The move has prompted a sexism row to linger, with one disgruntled viewer writing into the Radio Times to voice her dismay. She said: “I was annoyed to see ‘new boy’ Dan Walker seated on the left, in Bill Turnbull’s [old] place, while far more experienced presenter Louise Minchin remained in the ‘number two’ position.

“How long will it take the BBC (and most other news stations) to catch up with the rest of us in the 21st century? Be brave – try sitting a woman on the left and see how the world will keep turning.”

While ITV’s Good Morning Britain sticks to the classic left-right tropes, when This Morning comes around, the show will occasionally switch the sides up, with presenter Alison Hammond often taking the coveted left seat.

Baroness Oona King, the former Labour MP and previous diversity executive at Channel 4, said the move was “low-level sexism”.

She added: “It seems strange that you have women with more experience being slotted into secondary or deputy positions, so they are always playing second fiddle to the men. It influences girls and women in their behaviour and expectations of what they can do.”

However, the Beeb has made some progress on The One Show with host Alex Jones having made the move from left to right to take the more senior spot.

According to the Mail Online, television sources told them it has to do with the way we read. A senior ITV executive told them: “The eye goes from left to right. Certainly, ‘camera left’ is the position of authority. It has always been the case.”

This idea does make sense internationally, too, as this phenomenon also exists in the Arab world, but inverted, with many women taking the left spot as Arabic is read left to right.