It is yet another bad news story for Sir Trevor McDonald.

Two months after the veteran presenter admitted he is struggling to cope with the pressures of his News At Ten role, his son Tim, 42, has added to his headaches.

Tim has accepted a job as new editor-in-chief of porn magazine Hustler and its hardcore stablemate Hustler Gold.

Sir Trevor McDonald with his second wife Jo and sons Tim and Jack at his OBE ceremony in 1992

Sir Trevor, 68, recently said he might quit his ITN job by the end of the year because of the strain of late-night working hours and the toll it takes on his family life.

And he admitted ‘binge-drinking’ with a bottle of wine every night before bedtime and a Dom Perignon champagne breakfast every Sunday.

Last week Tim, who will edit the magazines for publication in South Africa and Australia, phoned Sir Trevor ‘to warn him he might be asked some awkward questions’ about his son taking over magazines packed with pictures of scantily clad girls and ads for penis enlargements.

Shock: Sir Trevor's son Tim is to be editor-in-chief of Hustler magazine

Tim, who lives in Johannesburg’s trendy Jeppestown suburb and is about to feature in a South African magazine as one of the country’s most successful over-40s – pictured wearing nothing but a discreetly placed bedsheet – says he and his father are very close.

‘I tell him everything,’ he explained. ‘I said he might get a lot of phone calls but not to worry.

'One day I could be editing Vanity Fair and he’ll be proud of me.

‘I also told him there isn’t much difference between Hustler’s soft porn and the articles you get about female orgasms in women’s magazines.

'Dad thinks this is a wonderful opportunity for me – at least that’s what he says.

‘He knows I’m keen to learn about the technology of magazine production and that side of things.

'He’s a bit of a Luddite himself and doesn’t even know anything about computers, so he’s pleased I’m learning it all.’

Tim is Sir Trevor’s son from his first marriage.

When his father received the OBE at Buckingham Palace in 1992, watched by his second wife Jo and youngest son Jack, Tim respectfully toned down his appearance – trimming his dreadlocks and wearing a suit.

These days, his closest friend is writer Melinda Ferguson – who mentioned him in her book Smacked, which traces her harrowing recovery from heroin addiction.

She described him as ‘Mr Sexy ... a long, lanky, honey-brown dreadlocked man who became a kindred spirit.’

Now she says: ‘Tim came along at a time when I was clean from drugs but in a downward spiral because my mother was dying of cancer.

'He walked through all the pain with me.’

Yesterday Sir Trevor declined to comment on his son’s new career.

An ITN spokesman said: ‘Sir Trevor’s personal assistant has spoken to him about it and he doesn’t want to say anything.’