Good Morning Britain (2014 TV programme)

Good Morning Britain launched on 28 April 2014 following the cancellation of Daybreak with four main presenters - Susanna Reid, Ben Shephard, Charlotte Hawkins and Sean Fletcher, with weather bulletins presented by Laura Tobin, entertainment news delivered by Richard Arnold and sports news presented by Fletcher.[6]

Reid, Shephard and Hawkins all presented four days a week, with Fletcher presenting every day. When Reid was absent, Hawkins took her place and was in turn, substituted by Kate Garraway or Ranvir Singh.[6][20]

Between 13 June and 11 July, the show reported on the 2014 FIFA World Cup, with Fletcher presenting highlights and reactions live from Brazil. They also utilised graphics and music adapted specifically for the event.[21]

On 19 September 2014, the show was extended to 10:00 am to provide coverage on the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, with Reid and Shephard presenting live from Edinburgh.[22]

On 24 July 2015, the show was presented live from Buckingham Palace by Shephard, Garraway and Tobin.[23]

On 13 October 2015, ITV announced that Piers Morgan would join the programme three days a week as a permanent presenter following a week as a guest presenter in April.[24][25]

On 22 March 2016, the show was extended to 10:30 am to cover the breaking news of the Brussels bombings, meaning that sister show Lorraine and The Jeremy Kyle Show were cancelled. The following day, Reid presented coverage of the aftermath live from Brussels, whilst Morgan and Hawkins presented from the studio.[26][27]

On 25 March 2016, a fire occurred in an ITV production office, causing the presenters and crew to evacuate shortly before the programme went on air. A 30-minute standby tape was played as a substitute for the programme and Dinner Date was shown for the remainder of Good Morning Britain's airtime.[28]

On 24 June 2016, the show was extended to 9:25 am to cover the result of the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.[29]

On 22 July 2016, a second royal special was broadcast live from Buckingham Palace with Garraway and Singh. Laura Tobin presented the weather live from the Palace Gardens.[30][31]

On 9 November, the show was extended to 9:25 am again to cover the results of the 2016 United States presidential election, with Reid and Morgan live in New York City, Singh in Washington D.C. and Hawkins in the studio.[32][33]

On 26 January 2017, newsreader and relief presenter Ranvir Singh was announced as the programme's new Political Editor.[34]

On 26 January 2018, a special edition of the programme was broadcast, focused on a worldwide exclusive interview with US President Donald Trump. Shephard and Garraway presented the majority of the programme from the studio in London, while Morgan presented parts of the show live from Davos, Switzerland.[35]

On 13 April 2018, the final edition of Good Morning Britain from The London Studios was broadcast. Morgan and Reid returned on 16 April, broadcasting live from Television Centre for the first time, with a new studio and updated opening titles.[36]

On 18 May 2018, Garraway and Shephard presented a special edition of the programme in celebration of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, with Hawkins and Tobin presenting live from Windsor.[37]

On 28 June 2018, ITV aired a special edition of the programme entitled Good Evening Britain following the England vs. Belgium World Cup football match, with live reactions, debates and analysis, presented by Morgan and Reid. Guests included Pamela Anderson, David Ginola, Danny Dyer and Jeremy Corbyn.[38][39]

On 24 September 2018, the show began airing in the United States, on the BritBox streaming service.[40] The version seen on BritBox, is a specially edited version featuring the highlights of that day's edition. It is available at 7:00 am ET.[41]

On 13 December 2018, Reid presented parts of the show live from Westminster following Theresa May's survival in a vote of no confidence, with Shephard and Garraway presenting in the studio.[42]

On 6 January 2020, ITV Daytime announced that Good Morning Britain would be broadcast for an additional half an hour, with a new finishing time of 9:00 am, due to the cancellation of The Jeremy Kyle Show.[43] The first half-hour features Hawkins, Garraway or Singh reading the day's main headlines, joined at 6:30 am by the main anchors.[11]

On 21 January 2020, the show was accused of racism and received over 1,500 Ofcom complaints after Morgan made comments relating to a Chinese dairy advert, in which he said, "He's using ching chong ching milk".[44] Morgan also spoke over the advert saying, "ching chang cho jo". He was accused by some viewers as using racist language which is used to antagonise Chinese people, and for mocking the Chinese language.[45] Both Morgan and Good Morning Britain denied the accusations.[46] This led to several public figures including footballer John Barnes and politician Sarah Owen, separately criticising both Morgan and the show for ignoring racism.[47][48] The episode was later taken down from the ITV Hub on the day it aired, although ITV claimed it was removed for "a totally unrelated reason".[49]

On 17 March 2020, Reid was forced to self-isolate at home after one of her children displayed symptoms of COVID-19, which, under government guidelines at the time, required the whole household to self-isolate. Reid continued to make appearances on the programme via video link, and returned to the studio on 31 March.[50]

On 22 March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ITV announced that production of both Lorraine and Loose Women would be suspended due to the lower number of production staff able to work.[8] As a result, Good Morning Britain was extended by an hour to finish at the later time of 10:00 am, with the final hour co-hosted by Morgan and Lorraine Kelly.[8] From April 2020, however, Kelly hosted the final hour on her own, with regular input from health editor Hilary Jones.[51]

On 8 July, Morgan and Reid announced they would be taking an extended break of six weeks over the summer, with Shephard, Ray, Hawkins, Singh and Garraway (who had been absent from the show due to her husband Derek Draper being admitted to intensive care with COVID-19)[52][53] presenting in their place.[54][55] Morgan and Reid returned on Tuesday 1st September.[56]

On 12 July, it was announced that Lorraine would start production again, meaning that Kelly would no longer present the final hour of Good Morning Britain, and the show would subsequently return to its previous finish time of 9:00 am.[57]

On 13 and 14 August Sean Fletcher returned to present two editions of the programme (for the first time since March) with Charlotte Hawkins, and on 20 and 21 August Alex Beresford co-hosted two episodes alongside Kate Garraway.

On 31 August, the format from January-March 2020 was returned, with Morgan and Reid (from 6:30 AM) and Hawkins (from 6:00 AM) all in the studio together for the first time in 6 months.

During the week beginning on 2 November 2020, Morgan and Reid presented the show for the whole week because of the 2020 United States presidential election, including a results programme on Wednesday 4 November, as well as the second lockdown in England due to COVID-19.[58]

On 3 February 2021, Morgan and Reid hosted a special edition of the programme in memory of Captain Sir Tom Moore who died the day before from a battle with pneumonia and COVID-19.

Good Morning Britain was broadcast from Studio 5 at The London Studios, the same studio where GMTV was broadcast from during its seventeen-year run. In February 2017, it was announced that The Londonn Studios, where Good Morning Britain is filmed, would be closed for some years beginning in 2018 as ITV decided to go through with demolishing the building and having it rebuilt. It was also announced that ITV's daytime shows (Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women) would be moving to studio space at BBC Studioworks' Television Centre, previously used by the BBC before moving to New Broadcasting House in March 2013. The last programme from The London Studios was broadcast on 13 April 2018. [64]

ITV's daytime shows moved to Television Centre on 16 April 2018, with Good Morning Britain using Studio TC3. This 6,390 sq ft (594 m²) studio is split in two, with half of it being used for Good Morning Britain and half for This Morning.[3] They share the same cameras and gallery. In October 2018, it was announced that ITV would not be returning to the South Bank.