[Brekkie]

I think it also emphasises the idea of the team being a "family" rather than having two seemingly competing duos.

[Ash101]

I guess they didn't want to revisit ITV Breakfast of years gone by, but he did seem like a more natural fit for GMB in recent years...maybes swapping with Ben Shephard who would've worked better on This Morning.

Did Ruth ever officially leave? I think she only did 1 week last summer alongside Rylan? Either way, she's not really needed either as Loose Women needs anchors.

---

Interesting post from Dan Wootton on Mail Online tonight where he has said: "at least four household name stars had plotted to ambush the scandal-plagued presenter live on air"... also an interesting quote about International Women's Day

"Holly, in conjunction with the show's editor Frizell, had decided that there should be an all-female presenting line-up to mark the occasion, side-lining Phillip entirely. But Phillip was furious about the plans and went over Holly's head to Frizell's boss Gormley to put a stop to them."

www.dailymail.co.uk 

The question is, do you believe a word that man says?

You can only imagine how smug he will be on his show tonight. He has one of those faces at the best of times.

I totally agree - however he must have contacts and surely he'd have to publish something like that knowing it was somewhat truthful?

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I think it also emphasises the idea of the team being a "family" rather than having two seemingly competing duos.

It's a really great idea.

If that doesn't happen though, I think at least a 3 / 2 day split between Holly and whoever & Alison and Dermot might help reestablish a balance between there not being a quite so prominent duo.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Err... that's the exact thing that I was referring to.

Going Live and Live & Kicking both being the "BBC One Saturday morning kids' magazine slot", which is what I said.

Indeed, I misread the circuitousness as a reference the Broom Cupboard, where you could argue it was the only time he was a direct successor.

I was thinking of the Broom Cupboard and Live and Kicking (as essentially a rebrand of Going Live made by the same team) but there is also Take Two.

[Brekkie]

Going back to when Phillip first came in as the regular Friday presenter prior to stepping into the main role and who did he co-present with on the Friday - was it Ruth?

I know in the years following Phil hosted 5 days whilst Fern just did Tue-Thu for a few years, with Lorraine Kelly hosting at least Mondays (possibly Mon/Fri) for a year or so. Think it was towards the end of Fern's tenure after she went back up to four days a week that Eamonn came in on Fridays to co-host with Ruth.

[XIII]

Going back to when Phillip first came in as the regular Friday presenter prior to stepping into the main role and who did he co-present with on the Friday - was it Ruth? 

I know in the years following Phil hosted 5 days whilst Fern just did Tue-Thu for a few years, with Lorraine Kelly hosting at least Mondays (possibly Mon/Fri) for a year or so.  Think it was towards the end of Fern's tenure after she went back up to four days a week that Eamonn came in on Fridays to co-host with Ruth.

Fern had a reduced schedule because she'd just had a baby but ITV were so desperate after Colleen and Twiggy had turned out to be a disaster that they agreed to it. 

Eamonn and Ruth didn't start doing Fridays until 2006 IIRC but Ruth was a stand in from 2002.

I think Holly did This Morning in 2008, a year before Fern left but as we know she was on DOI before than.

[Brekkie]

Yes, they certainly had her guest host whilst Fern was still there.

Had a bit of a google (frustratingly, their "before" feature brings up new articles with old dates). Think he was only there two months before John Leslie was sacked (funny how eventually what goes around comes around) and was actually doing Fridays with Fern, so she was either 5 days a week at the time or perhaps Coleen was still around for early in the week.

Impossible it seems to find the 2002 title sequence (with the squares) online - the compilations of titles on Youtube jump from the final Richard and Judy titles to the 2003 titles.

Looking for it though I found this clip from Feb 2002 with (I think) Jane Moore presenting with John Leslie. A random fill in or was she semi-regular for a bit in the anyone but Twiggy and Coleen era?
www.youtube.com 

[XIII]

Jane Moore doing This Morning does seem strange until you remember Piers Morgan also did a stint with Fern.

[Milkshake]

Ann and nick once did This morning in 1990, Jerry springer did a stint with Judi, who could forget this one time MP from Central news...

Richard bath and Anna Soubry
youtu.be 

[Kojak]

Ann and nick once did This morning in 1990, Jerry springer did a stint with Judi, who could forget this one time MP from Central news...

Richard bath and Anna Soubry
youtu.be 

Anna also presented on at least one occasion with Haig Gordon (of Scotland Today and London Tonight)… who just so happened (at the time) to be her husband! 

[Steve in Pudsey]

Just a thought - any chance of John Leslie returning? He was cleared of the allegations that saw him replaced by Schofield 20 years ago.