WHEN This Morning bosses arrived at the ITV studios on May 10 last year, they could have been forgiven for thinking the show had hit rock bottom.
That day, The Sun exclusively revealed how its beloved hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were in the depths of a meltdown that would destroy the programme.
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This Morning’s ratings have plummeted due to the new duo of Ben Shephard and Cat DeeleyCredit: Rex
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ITV have struggled to find the right formula since the departure of Phillip Schofield and Holly WilloughbyCredit: PA
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Alison Hammond would have been a popular option if ITV had gone with her instead Credit: Rex
Within weeks, he resigned due to the discovery of his affair with a much younger member of the production staff, and she walked him out the door months later.
With the show’s golden couple gone and the future in limbo, surely things can’t get any worse?
Well, fast forward 12 months and the good ship This Morning finds itself in even stormier waters.
A year later, on May 10, 2024, the show’s team learned that the latest ratings were the worst in history.
The previous day, the number of viewers dropped to an average of 486,000.
It was a confusing bombshell as new hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley were brought in as the supposed saviors of the show.
As ITV struggled with falling advertising revenue and rising costs of making live TV shows, they were seen as a safe pair.
But it turns out they may have been TOO confident.
Everyone — myself included — praised Ben and Cat’s natural, warm delivery when they first appeared on the This Morning couch on March 11, with more than a million viewers tuning in for the show’s big relaunch.
There was no denying that they looked good, sounded great, and were unquestionably smart, funny, and at ease with each other.
This Morning’s Ben Shephard drops huge hint that Cat Deeley has signed up for BBC’s big reality show
At first they had the air of a cool older brother and sister, but the brother and sister bullshit quickly wore thin.
After just two weeks, ratings took a nosedive, dropping from the million who watched the debut to a low of 692,000 – and the numbers have continued to fall.
Of course, the show and its hosts were equally victims of the changing television landscape, with more viewers turning to online services for catch-up and streamers or social media for entertainment.
Despite this, Ben and Cat never developed the unique spark that meant viewers would buck the worrying trend and tune into This Morning.
Maybe there was an undiscovered couple out there – a new Phil and Holly – just waiting to be discovered
Rod McPhee
That’s what ITV was hoping would happen, especially as its big rival, BBC One Morning Live, still has between a million and 1.6 million viewers every day.
It was already a tall order, but ex-Good Morning Britain host Ben and ex-So You Think You Can Dance Cat were just too bland to deliver any cooler moments – the same moments that have been consistently served up by the rest of the show’s hosting teams over the years.
The producers needed to look no further than their own collection of YouTube videos to see that one of the most watched clips in the show’s history featured relative newcomer Alison Hammond.
Terrible situation
Her infamous interview with Hollywood legends Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford six years ago – in which Alison was in fits of laughter as they had a drink together – has amassed a staggering 18 million views.
Which would leave many fans wondering just how far ITV went to sign up a part-time presenter as the full-time host of This Morning.
Alison’s irreverent, mean and slightly chaotic style may have just given the show some edge, and her dynamic with co-host Dermot O’Leary seems to be working too.
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Dermot O’Leary and Alison began to form their own partnership in the series Credits: Rex
The same question could be asked of other big names from the program’s past, including cheeky Italian chef Gino D’Acampo.
His compilation of the best moments on YouTube has been viewed nearly nine million times, and he remains one of the most popular people from This Morning’s past.
Scenes like Ruth Langsford comparing Willy to the size of a meter, while not considered a classic, have been viewed nearly three million times.
Her second interview, with her now estranged husband Eamonn Holmes six years ago, has been viewed 16 million times.
And, of course, the presenters dominating all of the most watched spots on This Morning were Phil and Holly.
No return
While there is almost zero chance of bringing one or both of them back, perhaps ITV bosses should have tried to replicate their synergy with the new hosts.
Maybe there was an undiscovered couple out there – a new Phil and Holly – just waiting to be discovered.
The duo, who had a 19-year age difference, worked because he was an older, seasoned television veteran, while she was the attractive girl next door.
Although they weren’t an obvious couple, from the moment Phil and Holly started working together in 2009, viewers were hooked.
Even as tensions between the two began to simmer as her stock rose in the TV world, fans of the show seemed to be delighted.
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Alison’s interviews with Hollywood stars are among the network’s most popular series clips Credit: itv
Which explains why, even during the crisis surrounding Phil’s departure last May, they were still getting between 700,000 and 1 million viewers.
These were the levels that held until October last year, when Holly left after an alleged plot to kidnap and kill her.
After that, with presenters like Alison and Dermot appearing in an ever-changing lineup of stars, they actually enjoyed a surge in ratings.
Around Christmas and into the New Year, they regularly got between 1 million and 1.3 million viewers each day — suggesting that having two permanent hosts might be a bad idea in itself.
ITV bosses were convinced that having a regular duo hosting the show was crucial to its success.
However, the arrival of Ben and Cat did not continue the downward trend in ratings, it seemed to actively start it.
It’s a dire situation that This Morning bosses could never have predicted, and in the year between May 2023 and now, they expected to turn things around.
However, due to the current direction of movement, many will wonder if the series will still be on our screens by May next year.
This morning is broken — and based on their performance so far, it doesn’t seem like even Ben and Cat can fix it.
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Source: HIS Education