This Morning has come under fire after Alison Hammond made an unexpectedly early return to This Morning as she shared a huge announcement. Phillip Schofield was back at the helm of the ITV daytime show on Monday (April 17) for the first time in a number of weeks.
But Holly Willoughby was nowhere to be seen after her planned return with Phillip was thrown into chaos after she fell ill. In an Instagram post shared by both Holly and This Morning on Sunday (April 16), the mum-of-three confirmed her return had been hit by a setback and that she'd be away for a "few days" - or the whole week - due to being struck down by shingles.
She wrote on the distinctive green This Morning logo backdrop: "Hi ...just to let you know I may be away for the rest of the week as I have Shingles," she said with frustrated-face emoji. Holly added: "I'll be back as soon as I'm better. Huge Love."
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But despite not hosting the show herself as Rochelle Humes stepped in to replace Holly, Alison was live on the programme from what was a secret location. Throughout the programme, the 48-year-old teased that she had some big news to share with viewers and was appearing live from a mystery location as she gave clues to viewers.
She hinted that it involved the upcoming Coronation of King Charles III by showing a pack of coronation chicken-flavoured crips to the camera. And it soon became clear that Alison was treading the most famous street - or should we say cobbles - in the country. Of course, she was on the Salford-based set of Coronation Street where she was joined by two of the ITV soap's stars, Sally Ann Matthews and Jodie Prenger, to whom Alison handed over an invitation before revealing all.
She told viewers that This Morning would be ditching its London studio and be bringing one of its upcoming episodes live from the Corrie cobbles. ITV1’s flagship daytime show This Morning and the network's longest-running soap Coronation Street will come together to get the Coronation weekend celebrations started.
The two shows will unite on Friday, May 5, the day before the coronation of King Charles, when Friday hosts Alison and Dermot O’Leary will take the shows famous blue sofa from Television Centre in West London to 'Weatherfield’ in Greater Manchester and invite viewers to join them for a show packed with special guests and a party fit for a King.
But after all the build-up, some This Morning viewers couldn't help but express their disappointment .@DavidMackayy fumed: "Is that f*****g it? A street party? #thismorning." @Crazier tweeted: "#thismorning What a f*****g waste of time…absolutely pointless." @RyanTheSoapking added: "OMG is that all. I was expecting a storyline announcement #Corrie #ThisMorning."
In an official This Morning statement, Alison said: "I literally cannot wait to be back visiting those cobbles again. I always have such a great time with the Coronation Street team and to be there with our This Morning team this time for such a special occasion will be epic, it's going to be so much fun!" While Dermot added: "I cannot think of a more iconic way to spend a Friday hosting with Alison and delivering a show like this ahead of the King's coronation. We will definitely be bringing the party to Manchester that day!"
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