When This Morning’s reigning queen Holly Willoughby made her much-vaunted address to Britain’s TV-viewing public back in July, following the ignominious departure of her long-time presenting partner Phillip Schofield, she had four words for her audience: “Firstly, are you OK?”
A few months on from the peak of the scandal, which saw Schofield step down from a role he had held for more than 20 years after admitting that he had lied about an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a younger colleague, it seems like the answer to that question is a resounding “no”. The hard proof? Last night saw This Morning lose out on the Best Daytime Show trophy at the National Television Awards, ending a 13-year winning streak. If you have even a glancing familiarity with British daytime telly, you’ll probably already be well aware that, for This Morning, this is basically the equivalent of a political party losing an extremely safe seat. It’s sure to ring alarm bells back at ITV HQ.
