Paul Merton and Matt Allwright to be guest hosts on The One Show

Have I Got News for You team captain Paul Merton and Watchdog's Matt Allwright are to be the first stand-in hosts of The One Show after Adrian Chiles leaves on Friday. Allwright – who rose to fame with Rogue Traders and now co-hosts Watchdog – will begin next Monday, with Have I Got News for You star Merton on Thursday, while Allwright carries out his Watchdog duties. The Watchdog presenter will be back on The One Show sofa again on Friday and then for the following week, except Thursday. The BBC has yet to finalise who will stand in for him on that night. However, the search is ongoing to find a permanent replacement for Chiles to partner with Christine Bleakley from Mondays to Thursdays. One source said: "It's really got to be someone who works well with Christine. There's no rush." The BBC is lining up a number of people to try out. Other contenders are believed to include Channel Five presenter Matthew Wright and The One Show regulars Chris Hollins and Rav Wilding. But the BBC is also believed to be mulling Heart 106.2 DJ and former Live & Kicking presenter Jamie Theakston and Dermot O'Leary – who recently interviewed the three main Westminster party leaders for BBC3. It is expected that the BBC will have Chiles's replacement in place by after the football World Cup. Chiles signed a four-year deal with ITV in the early hours of last Monday to become the face of its live football coverage and GMTV. He was upset with the BBC after the corporation signed Chris Evans to front the Friday edition of The One Show , which airs every week night on BBC1. Getting the right on-screen partner for Bleakley is important for the BBC as The One Show has become a popular mainstay of BBC1 and the chemistry between her and Chiles helped boost the show's profile. Ratings for The One Show have risen steadily over the past couple of years, peaking at about 7.4 million in January. The programme found itself in the spotlight however after it emerged last autumn that the BBC was considering bringing in Evans. This public row was noted by Chiles when he announced his departure last week to ITV – reportedly for just over £1million a year – by saying it was "no secret how disappointed" he was at the decision to alter The One Show's format. He had been in discussions with ITV before about transferring to the corporation's rival. But it was after it emerged how annoyed he was at being replaced by Evans that he turned down the deal the BBC was offering him and was snapped up by the ITV director of television, channel and online, Peter Fincham. The BBC announced last week that Colin Murray will replace Chiles as the host of Match of the Day 2 from August. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".