The BBC's highest-paid male stars must take a wage cut to close the corporation's "shocking" gender salary gap, the UK government has warned amid threats to expose more top earners.
Karen Bradley, the culture secretary, said publication of a list of 96 stars who earn more than £150,000 (R2,517,534) a year should have a deflationary effect on the wages of presenters such as Chris Evans, who tops the list on £2.2-million.
Women account for just a third of the BBC's big earners, with only one woman in the top nine - Strictly Come Dancing's Claudia Winkleman, who is joint-eighth on the list - while Gary Lineker is paid nine times more than fellow sports presenter Clare Balding.
The government now wants male stars to be forced to take a pay cut of at least 10%.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the BBC must look at how it paid women and men "for doing the same job".
Ministers also accused the corporation of raising the pay of up to six women shortly before the deadline for the list, taking them over the £150,000 threshold and altering the imbalance.
The corporation now faces the threat of legal action for potential breach of laws on equal pay.
One leading talent agent said: "I suspect a number of people are consulting lawyers right now.
"Apart from anything else, there is a pretty good equalities act that says it is illegal to pay women less for doing the same job."
The government ordered the BBC to publish the salaries of all stars who earn more than the prime minister.
Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, had resisted the publication of the list, saying it would lead to wage inflation because it would show commercial -rivals what BBC stars get, and how much it would need to lure them away.
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