Phillip Schofield has said that fans have reacted brilliantly to Holly Willoughby joining This Morning.

Willoughby replaced Fern Britton earlier this year and Phillip has said that ITV chose the ‘absolutely right’ person for the job.

Schofield told Heat: “I think she had a fantastic reaction. This Morning has a very loyal following, but from the word go Holly was absolutely the right person to come in.

“She’s got a great sense of humour and she’s beautiful and bright and bubbly . There was never any question that it should be anyone else.”

On what he would have done if ITV had chosen another presenter, Phillip joked: “I would have given them Chinese burns and I would have stolen things from them.

“There would have been a lot of backstage bullying and petty jealousies and I would have insisted that I got all the words and all the close-ups.”