Fern Britton has admitted that she has wanted to leave ITV’s This Morning for the last two years.

Ferns announced her decision to leave the show recently and will present her last one on the 17th July.

Fern tells Paul O’Grady tonight: “I feel now as if I have packed up my house and am just waiting for the removal van. I’ve had a fantastic time and it’s a fabulous job, but there comes a moment when it’s time to let someone else have a go.”

When asked how long she has been thinking about leaving she says:

“Two years, it takes a long time, and I don’t jump into things.”

“You mull it over and mull it over and actually you’ve done all your goodbyes and things in your mind over those two years. Then you go, and everyone else is surprised.”

One of the contributing factors to Fern’s decision to quit, is the three or four hours commute from her Buckinghamshire home to central London each morning.

She says: “The journey to work every day is between three-and-a-half and four hours. I was missing the children and not seeing much of Phil and not being mistress in my own home any more.

“I’m very lucky as this is my 30th year in television and I can still catch my boys, because they’re doing their GCSEs next summer. I’m ready to help them when they need to concentrate and all that stuff.”