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This Morning has been rudderless – that is, without any permanent presenters – for the past five months. Holly Willoughby abandoned ship in October, a decision she made “for me and my family”, almost half a year after her long-time presenting partner (and best friend) Phillip Schofield quit the programme amid rumours of a rift between the two. It would later be revealed that he had lied to ITV bosses about an affair with a younger colleague.
Since then, it’s been a carousel of supply teachers – Alison Hammond, Emma Willis, Dermot O’Leary, Josie Gibson, Craig Doyle and Rylan Clark among them. Regular viewers (what few of them are left) haven’t known whether they’ve been coming or going. But as of today, This Morning’s era of uncertainty is over.
Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard have been announced as the new permanent presenters. Unsurprising – they’ve proven themselves capable of hosting the show over the past few months as stand-ins.
Their CVs are impressive – Deeley made her name in live children’s television before making it big in the States as Emmy-nominated host of competition series So You Think You Can Dance.
Shephard earned his mid-morning TV stripes on GMTV, currently hosts Good Morning Britain and has been standing in for Schofield and Willoughby since 2009.
Still… boring isn’t it?
It’s no secret that This Morning has been on a downward spiral for years. In 2021, more than a million of us would tune in to see what was on the agenda, be it the best children’s Christmas presents, women who married ghosts or heartbreaking, important real-life stories (though it’s perhaps important to note that we were all in lockdown).
Now, the audience stands at an average of 800,000 and last September, This Morning lost the Daytime gong at the National Television Awards for the first time in 13 years. The level of scandal the programme courts – whether its giggling presenters giving the PM a far too easy ride, offering a year’s worth of paid electrical bills as a prize, or backstage bullying accusations – is disproportionate to the dwindling pertinence of the series. In other words, it’s a sinking ship.
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Installing new permanent presenters was a chance for producers to shake things up, to herald a new era of This Morning – to make it relevant again. And there’s no shortage of young, hot TV talent already in the ITV stable who could easily take the mantle: Big Zuu, Maya Jama, Yinka Bokinni, even ex-Love Island star Olivia Atwood (who is marvellous on her plastic surgery docuseries The Price of Perfection) would all make for fresh presenters. It would be a gamble, of course, but look at Alison Hammond and Josie Gibson – they were Big Brother graduates before getting their foot in the door at This Morning.
But here we are, with another wholesome, widely unoffensive, dare I say, dull, pair. Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield 2.0 – without the baggage.
It’s completely understandable. After over a year of drama, government intervention and scandal, I’m sure ITV bosses just want This Morning to return to its unassuming roots; a programme in which the most shocking thing that can happen is a demonstration of sex toys perfect for Valentine’s Day.
But it’s not going to work. The series has gone too far over the edge of irrelevance to ever return to its glory days – even the expert skills of Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard won’t be able pull off that miracle.
