Starting on Monday, Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard are taking over as the new main presenting team on ITV1’s This Morning. After the ignominious departure of first Phillip Schofield and then Holly Willoughby last year – after they’d spent 20 years and 14 years respectively as hosts of the most-watched breakfast TV show – this heralds a significant changing of the morning TV guard. But what is Deeley letting herself in for, and does coffee-breath Britain even deserve her?
Deeley has warmly hailed her new presenting home as a “national institution”. Still, it’s reported she originally turned down the job. Then, that she wanted to co-present with Rylan Clark, not Shephard. None of which points to Deeley exactly gagging for her new opportunity. Is she on to something? Is it time to ask: what does morning television do to women?
