Alison Hammond had This Morning viewers in tears when she received a meaningful Christmas gift during a special festive episode.
The popular ITV daytime programme aired a special, prerecorded edition on Christmas Day, which featured Hammond hosting with Dermot O’Leary, as well as appearances from other regular faces such as Josie Gibson and Gyles Brandreth.
During a segment where the presenters exchanged gifts, O’Leary brought up Hammond’s current stint performing in the Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime at the Birmingham Hippodrome.
Alison Hammond gets emotional on This Morning Christmas special— (ITVX)
After Hammond recalled that it is a venue that she previously visited with her late mother, O’Leary said: “Well it’s a very special place for you and a lifelong dream that you’re performing there.
“So we took the liberty of doing something,” he continued, as a camera cut to hands unveiling a badge with Hammond’s name being attached to a seat in the theatre.
“Can we just take a look at this? So, we’ve named a seat ‘Alison Hammond, TV Queen and pantomime star’,” O’Leary told Hammond. “That’s named after you, in perpetuity, forever.”
Visibly touched by the gesture, Hammond dabbed tears away from her eyes. “I’m so sorry I’m crying, but you don’t know how much that would have meant to my mum,” she replied. The star’s mother, Maria Foster, died of liver and lung cancer in 2020.
O’Leary then continued his speech, letting his colleague know that the gift was not yet complete.
Hammond tears up on the sofa alongside co-host Dermot O’Leary— (ITVX )
“With that in mind, we know you used to go there with your mother so we’ve got the next seat along, we’ve just named it after your mother.
“We know, also, we’ve talked about it many times, that one of her favourite musicals was West Side Story so we’ve put ‘the most beautiful sound I ever heard, Maria’ on there.”
As the co-hosts hug each other, Hammond expressed how much the gesture meant to her, saying through sobs: “Thank you so much, that’s the best Christmas present I ever had.”
In response to the heartfelt moment, many viewers have shared their own emotional reactions to Hammond receiving her gift.
“Watching @AlisonHammond cry after the thoughtful Christmas gift Dermot and the @ThisMorning crew got her (two chairs in the theatre in her and her mother’s name) I am CRYING,” wrote one empathetic viewer.
“Not @AlisonHammond having me tear up as @radioleary handed her the most incredible Christmas gift ever!” reads another response. “I’m definitely getting old! Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you @thismorning for that lovely moment on my 40th Birthday!”
Others touched upon the nature of missing loved ones who have died, and how it is something that people deal with forever. One comment reads: “Grief changes and moves, but never leaves us completely. Our loved ones who have passed are always with us.”
Hammond has shared her love for her mother on several occasions and occasionally wears a Michael Kors watch that her mother gave her while on air. Earlier this year, she batted away accusations of the watch being a pricier Rolex model after a viewer found it “uncomfortable”.
