BBC announces rival to go head-to-head with This Morning

[dutchman]

Its new broadcast time will see it overlap with This Morning for the first time



The BBC will be stepping up against striken ITV1 show This Morning, as it confirms popular morning show will go head-to-head from next month.

Britain’s most watched live magazine daytime show is now BBC One’s Morning Live, after a difficult period of time for ITV1’s This Morning, which has been dogged by multiple scandals and a plot to kill one of its presenters.

Morning Live will return on Tuesday 2nd January with a longer show and new presenters. From 2024, Helen Skelton and Michelle Ackerley will become permanent presenters on the show, alternating alongside existing presenter Gethin Jones every Monday to Wednesday. Gethin will continue to present four to five shows a week. Kym Marsh will present on Thursdays, and a host of guest presenters including Sara Cox, Kimberley Walsh, Gaby Roslin and Rav Wilding will continue to co-host regularly too.

The show will go on air at 9:30am, 15 minutes later than currently, making way for an extended BBC Breakfast. Morning Live will run for 75 minutes, instead of the current 45 minutes, meaning it will be on air until 10:45am each weekday.

The BBC will hope the up to 1.4 million viewers will stay with BBC One past 10am, when ITV1’s This Morning hits the airwaves. Until now, Morning Live has been more of a competitor to ITV1’s Lorraine, running head-to-head for 45 minutes each weekday.

Meanwhile, This Morning is trying to recover from a difficult 18 months. It’s currently searching for new permanent presenters after both departed within months of each other. Philip Schofield left following a scandal regarding a relationship at work. Meanwhile co-presenter Holly Willoughby left suddenly after a murder plot against the presenter was discovered. Their departures followed an uproar over perceived queue jumping at the Queen’s lying-in-state and a competition where viewers could win the cost of their electricity bill. The scandals have dented the show’s popularity with audiences, although it remains successful at creating viral social media content.

For the BBC, Morning Live has aimed to be a positive and upbeat alternative. The Manchester-based show also extends the broadcaster’s presence in the North West of England, joining BBC Breakfast and soon the BBC News at 1 from nearby Salford.

Morning Live becomes the latest in a series of programmes launched by the BBC over the last 30 years to go head-to-head with the once dominant This Morning. Back in the 1990s, when Birmingham was host to BBC daytime output, Good Morning with Anne and Nick became the longest lasting live magazine competitor to date. Later in the decade, the BBC gave up on the format. In came City Hospital and later Homes Under The Hammer alongside a plethora of crime and antiques-based shows going up against This Morning.

Morning Live was first launched during the pandemic from London, providing a one-stop shop for topical content. It was initially only commissioned for a limited run. It later moved to the ABC Buildings in Manchester, regularly attracting over one million viewers and earning a permanent slot on BBC One.

[dutchman]

Britain’s most watched live magazine daytime show is now BBC One’s Morning Live, after a difficult period of time for ITV1’s This Morning, which has been dogged by multiple scandals and a plot to kill one of its presenters.

Err... Doesn't a "plot" have to involve more than one (mentally deranged) individual?