Gregg Wallace has revealed the reason he is stepping down from his role on a BBC series after seven years.

The Masterchef judge, 58, is quitting his job as presenter of Inside The Factory to care for his three-year-old, who has autism.

He appeared on BBC’s The One Show on Wednesday alongside fellow Masterchef judge John Torode to discuss the new series of the popular cooking show.

However, host Emma Willis also asked Gregg about his decision to step back from Inside the Factory.

Runcorn and Widnes World:

Gregg said: “"Yes, that's true - I've got a little boy called Sid, he's very autistic, he's non-verbal and we have got to choose a school for him.

"As he's getting older, it's getting more challenging. It's not something I want to just leave to my Anna. I need a little bit more time just to help out.

"It's only until we find a school for him.”

Originally announcing his departure from the BBC show on Gaby Roslin’s BBC Radio London show, he added: “So I’ve made a decision that I’m actually not going to do Inside The Factory any more.

"It’s a good time to stop doing it because there’s actually 12 episodes in the can… so I wouldn’t have been filming for a while anyway, so it just seemed like a good idea to stop it.

“Imagine a child that you can’t threaten or bribe and that’s basically what you’ve got.

“You’ve got a little boy who’s cuddly and happy and naughty, like any little boy would be, but he can’t speak, he can’t talk to you, so he gets frustrated because he finds it difficult to tell you what exactly it is he needs.

“Right now, we need to find education for him and I can’t just leave that to Anna – that’s a big, big decision.

“I mean, all parents worry about the schools that children will go to. Ours is even more highlighted because of poor little Sid’s issues.”

The BBC confirmed a new presenter will be announced for Inside The Factory in the future, with Jack Bootle, the BBC’s head of specialist factual, saying Gregg helped bring “humour, intelligence and genuine curiosity to one of the BBC’s biggest returning factual brands.”

He added: “I’d like to thank him for all his hard work and commitment to the programme.”