Alison Hammond has said 'this is a dream' as she promoted her latest job. The This Morning presenter recently shared her delight after being announced as the new host of The Great British Bake Off. She's replacing Matt Lucas on the hit Channel 4 show after the comedian announced his plans to quit back in December.
She'll co-host the show alongside Noel Fielding while judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith return to the famous tent to whittle down a fresh batch of amateur bakers until they find the ultimate star baker later this year. At the time of the announcement last month, Alison then said she was "absolutely thrilled" to be joining the Channel 4 show and confirmed she'd be meeting the new batch of bakers "soon".
But that's not the 48-year-old's only new gig. She announced a role in an upcoming pantomime following her recent This Morning controversy around theatre audiences. Alison shared the news on her Instagram and admitted she’s "excited" to have landed a role in Jack and the Beanstalk in her home city of Birmingham alongside Matt Slack and Doreen Tipton.
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In an announcement on their Twitter page, the Birmingham Hippodrome said: "Queen of Birmingham @AlisonHammond to star in Jack and the Beanstalk!" Alison then rehsared the post to her own feed and wrote: "This is a dream!! Panto in my home down of Birmingham at my favorite theatre Birmingham Hippodrome. My mum would have been thrilled."
In another tweet, Alison continued to share her excitement as she typed: "It's official!! I'm doing panto in my home town of Birmingham at @brumhippodrome Jack and the Beanstalk as a fairy. Really hope I get to fly in." She then emotionally added: "My mum would have been so proud and telling everyone so I'm letting you all know on her behalf! Hope you can come."
Sharing the news on Instagram, she penned: "Now this is exciting!!! @brumhippodrome have asked if I would like to be in their Panto this year in my home town of Brum . Err let me think ….YES PLEASE !!! I’m so excited to be joining the team in 'Jack and the beanstalk' it’s gonna be a Panto extravaganza. Oh yes it is!!!"
It comes after Alison faced a raft of criticism for comments about theatre etiquette on This Morning. During an episode of the show earlier this month, Alison and her co-host Dermot O'Leary were joined by regular guests Vanessa Feltz and Nick Ferrari to discuss the latest news headlines in daily segment 'This Morning's View'.
Ruth Langsford was among the first to respond, writing: "Oh yes it is! And I’ll be BEHIND YOU!!!" Good Morning Britain's Kate Garraway posted: "Fab - sounds like it’s all over to brum for panto this year." And fans were quick to flood to post.
@laura_lou_169 said: "Oh god we have our tickets I’m so excited to see you. You and Matt Slack both have great personalities and will work really well together." @abi_silk commented: "Absolutely thrilled!!! It will be ace to see you in panto. We come every year and you will be ace!!!! Looking forward to it even more." @felicityjanenora added: "Aww wicked, can’t wait to get my Christmas Eve tickets now , your gonna be amazing Alison."
They discussed the 'no singing' rules in place during showings of The Bodyguard. Signs stating "PLEASE REFRAIN FROM SINGING ALONG" were held by staff at the opening night of The Bodyguard, which featured in a Manchester Evening News review of the show. It was later revealed that the strict rules needed to be in place due to "disruptive behaviour" at previous dates on this tour with audiences trying to "out-sing" the cast.
"Staff are taking this very, very seriously and inflicting these rules and they are regularly walking up the aisles before the performance and during the intervals with no singing signs," explained Alison on the programme, and Dermot chuckled: "This is great."
Alison said: "I mean, I can't believe it. I'd be devastated, I'm not even going to go to that show now." And Vanessa said: "Isn't it the whole point of going to a musical you know, that you sing along to all the bits you know and when you don't know the words you just make them up? Isn't that what everybody does very very loudly while eating an ice cream?"
The comments came under fire and Ofcom later confirmed that 66 complaints have been made to them about the discussion on This Morning. The broadcasting watchdog confirmed to the MEN that the complaints it had received were "related to a discussion on a theatre show being halted due to members of the audience singing."
Alison previously apologised for ‘making light’ of audiences singing along to musicals. Alison said she is "truly sorry" and vowed to "do better in the future". In a statement posted to social media she said: "After reflection and the comments I made on Wednesday’s show I want to apologise to anyone who I offended especially the incredibly talented theatre performers, who I have the utmost respect for. I had no idea the level of disruption audiences were causing and tried to make light of the topic on Wednesday’s show, and for that I’m truly sorry."
She added: "I am a great supporter of theatre and the arts and would never sing at the top of my lungs at any performance. I was wrong in what I said and I’ve given this a lot of thought over the past few days and believe I was wrong. On Thursday evening I attended a performance of the GBBO the musical which I absolutely loved and gave a standing ovation, theatre is a magical experience for me and my family."
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