Fans of GMTV may recall Richard Arnold who presented a daily segment about TV, including news and spoilers.

Today it’s been revealed that ITV have rehired Richard to take a place on the sofa alongside Lorraine Kelly, as the show’s executives are keen to recreate the appeal that GMTV had.

And of course, Kate Garraway, who also joined the show when it was GMTV, is currently anchoring Daybreak, and it’s expected she too will be given a permanent role by boss David Kermode when the revamped show launches.

An insider told the Daily Mirror, “The plan really seems to include lots of elements of GMTV, including Richard ‘s return.

“He is at advanced talks to come back and try to brighten up the show.

“GMTV used to get better ratings than Daybreak has ever managed, so if they could get back up to their figures it would give them a chance to really take on BBC Breakfast…” Read more & comment »

Fans of the now – sadly – defunct GMTV will probably remember weather girl Clare Nasir, whose weight tended to go up and down a little during the ten years she was with the show.

However, Clare, who began her GMTV career in 2000 when she stood in for resident weather girl Andrea McLean, blossomed rather too much when she left the show in 2010, and some pretty horrifying pictures of her working out appeared in tabloids last year.

It was, says Clare, those pictures that forced her to take a good hard look at her diet and exercise regime, and to ultimately decide to lose weight and up her general fitness level.

And as you can see in the above before-and-after pic, the girl done good! So good in fact that Clare Nasir’s Body Transformation, which chronicles the radical change in her shape, is to air on Monday at 7.30pm on The Active Channel Sky 281… Read more & comment »

Former GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips’ home – which is a country pub – has been burgled, however, Fiona and her family weren’t at home at the time.

Fiona and husband Martin Frizell live above The Greyhound Inn in Sydling St Nicholas in Dorset, with their two sons, Nathaniel and Mackenzie.

It’s thought the burglars, who broke in via a kitchen window, stole alcohol, electronic devices and sundry items totaling £1,000.

Inspector Les Fry of Dorset police told the Daily Mail, “The thieves got away with a lot of different items. It looks like they got in during the early hours of the night.”

Fiona and Martin bought the pub in March this year for £900,000. Read more & comment »

TV presenter Jenni Falconer has announced via Twitter that she’s given birth to her first baby, a girl she’s named Ella Rose.

Jenni, who’s married to James Midgley, tweeted, “The wait was worth it….our beautiful baby girl, Ella Rose Midgley, arrived last night at 12.37 weighing 7lb 2oz.

“We are totally smitten!”

And the Daily Mail reports that Jenni’s former GMTV co-presenter Ben Shephard was quick to offer his congratulations on the news.

He tweeted, “Congrats to @Jennifalconer and james on arrival of little ella! Great news jen x”

Jenni and James married in June 2010 after dating for six years. Read more & comment »

ITV bosses have reportedly decided to give up on ailing breakfast TV show Daybreak.

The show launched last September, replacing long running breakfast TV show GMTV, however has been plagued with scandal and low ratings ever since.

Insiders now report that senior producers are now planning an overhaul of the current format – which is fronted by former One Show stars Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley – in a bid to recapture the “warmth” of its predecessor.

Read more & comment »

GMTV’s former director of programming Peter McHugh has criticised Daybreak, saying that ITV bosses haven’t thought the format through.

The breakfast show launched late in 2010, after GMTV was axed and the channel paid through the nose to lure Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles from BBC to front it.

However after disappointing ratings since it’s launch, McHugh says it is now time for ITV to change things up.

Read more & comment »

Singer and actress Bernie Nolan spoke to GMTV this morning in her first UK television interview since shaving off her hair following chemotherapy treatment.

Describing her hairless head as “a new look”, Bernie – who was diagnosed with breast cancer in April – said she shaved off her blonde locks as a way of taking charge of disease: “The thing is, my hair was falling out anyway and it was all tufts here and tufts there, and it looked worse. I looked like somebody who was really ill – ha! – which I don’t consider myself. And I just thought ‘Get rid of it,’ I’m in charge of this disease, not the disease in charge of me. And I thought I’m taking my hair off, so that’s what I did.”

Read more & comment »

It seems that veteran early morning presenter Eamonn Holmes and his new wife Ruth Langsford may be in talks with the BBC to present their Breakfast show when the show’s HQ relocates to Salford.

The Sun reports that as many of the current staff of the show have said they’ll quit if the move is made to Manchester from London, so speculation is rife that Holmes and Langsford may take over in leading roles on the show.

A BBC insider told the paper, “Eamonn loves breakfast TV and the biggest show in town is BBC Breakfast.”

The paper adds that Eamonn had hoped to front the new-look GMTV – which will be called Daybreak from later this year – but of course, Adrian Chiles landed the job. Read more & comment »

It’s been revealed today that former GMTV presenter, Fiona Phillips, will once again take to the sofa, but her appearance will be temporary as she’s to fill in for Lorraine Kelly.

Fiona will take over Kelly’s morning show from Monday until the re-branded GMTV returns as Daybreak in September.

Fiona told the PA, “I’ve spent nearly a third of my life so far sitting on the GMTV sofa, so I’m really excited to be going back to see my old mates and the viewers again.” Read more & comment »

It seems that former One Show co-host, Christine Bleakley, has been upset by criticism regarding her recent ‘defection’ from the BBC to ITV.

According to the Daily Star, Bleakley has been asking friends, “Why does no-one like me?”

A source said to be close to Christine told the paper, “Christine has worked really hard to get where she is, and the fact people are calling her a money-grabbing opportunist is really upsetting her.”

The article adds that Christine told friends, “Everywhere I look people are criticising me… Read more & comment »

Ex-GMTV presenter Penny Smith has told the Daily Mirror that the real reason she quit the breakfast show was because the show’s bosses ditched the News Hour.

Penny told the paper, “It’s true I felt ready for a change but I was also very disappointed when I heard they were ditching News Hour…

“That part of the show between six and seven that I co-presented with John Stapleton.

“I loved the combination of news and current affairs with a laugh along the way. And working with John was a joy… Read more & comment »

DAYBREAK will be the title of ITV1’s new look breakfast show presented by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley from this September.

Providing viewers with a fantastic launch to the ITV day, DAYBREAK will come from brand new, state of the art studios and forms a key part of ITV’s ongoing strategy to renew and refresh its programming.

Joining anchors Adrian and Christine will be an unrivalled team of special correspondents tasked with setting the day’s agenda; delivering reputation building news and distinctive, credible journalism; engaging entertainment content, major exclusive interviews; as well as eye-catching consumer items, plus health, sport, human interest and lifestyle features.

Read more & comment »

After much speculation about who’s leaving and who’s staying at GMTV in the wake of the show’s shake-up, it’s been officially announced that Emma Crosby will be leaving the breakfast show.

The news follows closely on from Christine Bleakley’s decision to join her former One Show co-host Adrian Chiles on the GMTV sofa.

Earlier today, an ITV source told the PA, “I can confirm [Emma] is going.”

Emma now joins Andrew Castle, Ben Shephard and Penny Smith in the ranks of Used To Be On GMTV presenters.

At this rate, there’ll be nobody left – other than Bleakley and Chiles, and I personally wouldn’t bother getting out of bed to watch either of them!

Would you? Read more & comment »

GMTV staff are reportedly furious that Christine Bleakley was offered huge £4 million contract with ITV, saying that she doesn’t have the journalistic skills needed for the job.

Christine finally ended the will she won’t she questions last weekend when she accepted a role on ITV’s new breakfast show alongside her former One Show co-presenter Adrian Chiles, but current staff on the show won’t be welcoming her with open arms.

Read more & comment »

GMTV presenter, Lorraine Kelly, has revealed that she still eats “like a piglet”, despite dropping from a size 14 to a size 12 during her training regime for the London Marathon earlier this year.

And during the launch of Scottish Armed Forces Day in Glasgow, she showed that she’s still in tip top condition.

50 year old Lorraine was winched from a helicopter for the event, and she clambered onto a tank before dashing down the River Clyde. Read more & comment »