The creator of This Morning says it’s time for the daytime show to come to an end (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
A woman who helped launch ITV’s This Morning says it is time for the programme to come to an end.
Dianne Nelmes was among the team who set up the flagship daytime show, which is currently in chaos after former presenter Phillip Schofield admitted to lying about an affair with a much younger man who worked as a runner on the show.
Nelmes said the show is ‘tired’ and producers should let This Morning ‘go with dignity,’ before adding that she doesn’t want her opinion to mean a ‘hammer blow’ to those currently working on the show.
She told BBC Radio 4’s PM: ‘I don’t think there’s any question that ITV should axe This Morning now, and certainly not because of any of these events around Phillip.
‘The basic law of factual programming is the presenter is never bigger than the show and this show will survive.
‘But I think that the tumultuous run of events around Phillip have formed a lightning rod.
Schofield initially resigned from This Morning before departing from ITV entirely as he confessed to the affair (Picture: ITV/Rex/Shutterstock)
‘And I think the lightning rod goes much deeper, that it’s time This Morning, in a very dignified way, just moved off and gave way to another new show.’
She added that in her opinion the show should run until July, and in September should return ‘with a completely new presenting team.’
Nelmes added that she would ‘get rid’ of Holly Willoughby and ‘all’ of the current presenters as ‘they’re going to continue to attract the wrong kind of tabloid interest.’
Nelmes reckons it’s time for all the current presenters to be moved on (Picture: ITV)
Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond have taken the reigns since Schofield’s departure and Willoughby taking early holidays, with viewers saying they ‘feel sorry’ for the pair in their awkward situation.
The pair opened the show on Monday – the first episode since Schofield confessed to an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a young male show runner on This Morning while still with his wife Stephanie Lowe, which he had previously denied.
They initially met when the unnamed production assistant was 15 after Schofield gave a talk at his school, with their relationship beginning after he turned 18 and was working in a role on This Morning, while Schofield was in his mid-50s.
O’Leary opened the show by vaguely addressing the controversy, saying: ”We all know we happen to be in the news at the moment, and of course we appreciate that.
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‘But just from both of us, the whole team here, the crew, the guys downstairs, we love making this show for all of you.’
Co-host Hammond then added: ‘We really do and that’s exactly what we are going to do, we are going to continue to do that.’
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‘The basic law of factual programming is the presenter is never bigger than the show.’
