This Morning (TV programme)

In 1988, ITV decided to create a live daytime morning programme and five regional ITV companies made pilot shows to bid for the national contract:

• Television South offered a show called Home Today, hosted by Andy Craig and Fern Britton.[4]
• Thames Television
• Yorkshire Television[5]
• Tyne Tees Television
• Granada Television offered a show called This Morning, and was awarded the national contract.

The first episode of This Morning aired at 10:40 am on 3 October 1988 and finished at 12:10 pm, live from the Granada studio inside the Albert Dock in Liverpool. An industry insider believed the idea would not work and would be pulled by Christmas 1988, but despite This Morning being launched with no publicity, its ratings quickly rose to a daily average of two million viewers.

In the first few series', the show's "experts" were weatherman Fred Talbot, agony aunt Denise Robertson, medic Dr Chris Steele, cook Susan Brookes, beauty presenter Liz Earle, hair and make-up artists Andrew and Liz Collinge, and wine expert Charles Metcalfe. The theme tune was by David Pringle, who also wrote opening music for Wheel of Fortune, Fun House and The Pyramid Game. To end the first series, in 1989, the show was presented via satellite from the United States at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Produced by Granada's Field Producer, Brian Thomas, the set was built directly in front of 'Sleeping Beauty Castle', a first for Disney. The 'special' week achieved the highest daytime viewing audiences outside of a Royal Wedding.

As part of the show, weather presenter Fred Talbot used a floating map of the British Isles to report the forecast.[6] A clip of Mark Roberts, a prolific streaker, running onto Talbot's weather map in 1995 is regularly shown on clip shows.[7]

In 1996, the show was moved to the London Studios on the grounds that it was difficult to get celebrity guests to travel from London to Liverpool.[8] In the summer of 2001, Madeley and Finnigan left This Morning to present their own series on Channel 4.

The show proved newsworthy on several occasions. In 2001 This Morning covered new ground by showing a gay partnership celebration live,[7] and a 2008 interview with Kerry Katona slurring her words also attracted coverage.[9]

2009–2015

This Morning titlecard used from 2009 to 2015

ITV relaunched This Morning in 2009 with a new set and with Holly Willoughby replacing Fern Britton as co-host, which saw ratings rise by 20%.[10]

This Morning Cook In!, an interactive cook event, began on 1 March 2010. Each week, five viewers and a celebrity guest cooked along, via Skype, with Gino D'Acampo or Phil Vickery.[11]

From 20 March 2010, This Morning increased from five to seven shows a week, with two new one-hour shows broadcast on the weekends, where Schofield and Willoughby presented pre-recorded links in between compilations of the week's programming. The weekend editions were later dropped from the schedule.[12]

The 'Hub' interactive segment was heavily featured from 2010 until 2014. Presenters included Jeff Brazier (2013–14), Jenni Falconer (2013–14), Stephen Mulhern (2011–2014) Rylan Clark (2013–14), Emma Willis (2012–2014), Coleen Nolan (2010–2012), Samanthi Jayawardena (2010–2012) and Matt Johnson (2010–2013).[13][14]

On 21 August 2013, Carol Vorderman took her first steps towards a 2014 World Record attempt by doing a solo flight to 1,000 metres high, live on This Morning. Reporter Jenni Falconer covered the occasion.[15]

On 3 October 2013, This Morning celebrated its 25th anniversary. The programme was broadcast live from its original home at Albert Dock in Liverpool with presenters Phillip Schofield, Eamonn Holmes, Holly Willoughby and Ruth Langsford being joined by original presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. Numerous historical clips of the show were aired, including Gene Pitney's miming gaffe from 1989. Keith Lemon presented the weather from the show's famous floating weather map, while Stephen Mulhern presented various items including 'The Hub Sub' (the 'Hub' on a submarine).[16] There was speculation concerning whether Fern Britton would return for the 25th anniversary; however, it was confirmed eight days beforehand that she would not.[17]

This Morning is currently hosted by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, Dermot O'Leary and Alison Hammond, and Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford. The main relief presenters consist of Rochelle Humes, Rylan Clark-Neal and Mollie King. Other stand-in presenters include Amanda Holden, Christine Lampard, Emily Atack, Dr Ranj Singh, Vanessa Feltz, Ben Shephard, Jenni Falconer, Matt Edmondson, Ore Oduba and Davina McCall.[26]

From October 1988 to July 2001, This Morning was presented by husband and wife Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. However, from 1998 onwards, they hosted only the Monday to Thursday editions, with regular guest presenters hosting on Fridays: during the tenth series Caron Keating and Ross Kelly presided, and from series 11 in 1999 Fern Britton and John Leslie were regular presenters of the Friday show. When Madeley and Finnigan departed the show in 2001, they were replaced by Coleen Nolan and Twiggy, with Fern Britton and John Leslie remaining on Fridays.[27][28] However, Nolan and Twiggy proved less popular with viewers: Twiggy was later axed, whilst Nolan presented until the end of 2001 with Leslie, and was subsequently replaced by Britton.[29]

After John Leslie was caught up in Ulrika Jonsson's rape scandal, his contract was terminated, and he was replaced by Phillip Schofield in 2002. Schofield developed an on-screen relationship with Fern Britton that was characterised by good humour and giggling.[30]

In 2006, Ruth Langsford, who had been a guest presenter since 1999, and Eamonn Holmes became main presenters. On 26 March 2009, Fern Britton announced that she was to leave This Morning, and would be replaced by Holly Willoughby on 14 September 2009. On 17 July 2009, Britton presented her final show after 10 years.[26] It has been confirmed, in an episode of Loose Women and This Morning, that Ruth Langsford is the longest-serving presenter of This Morning; serving 21 years as a This Morning presenter mostly alongside her husband.[31]

• Current main presenters gallery
• 
  Holly Willoughby (2009–present)
• 
  Phillip Schofield (2002–present)
• 
  Ruth Langsford (1999–present)
• 
  Eamonn Holmes (2006–present)
• 
  Dermot O'Leary (2021–)

The show usually scores around 1 million viewers a day, a high rating for the ITV daytime schedules (6am-6pm). On 3 October 2018, the show had one of its highest ratings, when 2.7 million viewers tuned in for its 30th anniversary.[32]

The 2015 exterior design of former studio coinciding with the programme's revamp.

From 1996 to April 2018, This Morning broadcast live from Studio 8 at The London Studios on the South Bank, which features large picture windows looking out over the River Thames.[33] Coinciding with the programme's revamp, the outside of the studio was repainted with the new This Morning logo and branding.

Since 16 April 2018, This Morning has been broadcast from Studio 3 of the newly renovated Television Centre run by BBC Studioworks, along with the rest of ITV Daytime, including Loose Women, Lorraine and Good Morning Britain.[34]

It was planned to move back to the studios in 2023, but in October 2018, ITV announced it was looking to sell the site and would continue with the current studios and offices longer term.[35] In November 2019, the original studio of This Morning was sold to Mitsubishi Estate.

This Morning has won the National Television Award for Best Daytime/Live Magazine Show for 17 years running, from 1998 to 2020.[36]

• This Morning at IMDb
• This Morning at itv.com
• This Morning at stv.tv