49-535: GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited , was the name of the national ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV
98-449: A 20% stake in the consortium in November 1991. GMTV was originally intended to be called 'Sunrise Television', but as Sky News ' breakfast programming also went by that name (and did so until 2019), Sky protested, resulting in the change of name. In May 1992, GMTV was criticised after unveiling its plans for a more family orientated format with business and city news being dropped. Director of Programmes Lis Howell stated: The structure of
147-482: A new leisure programme about family matters, as it believed 'TV-am flung its audience away on Sundays'. The first edition of GMTV was broadcast on 1 January 1993, presented by Eamonn Holmes and Anne Davies . Its main weekday presenters at its launch were Fiona Armstrong and Michael Wilson (Monday to Thursday), broadcast from Studio 5 at The London Studios on the South Bank . Within six weeks of broadcasting,
196-454: A programme on ITV; however, until the complete buyout by ITV plc., it was essentially an independent broadcaster with its own news-gathering operation, sales and management teams and in-house production team. GMTV also broadcast its own children's programmes, independent from CITV until Boohbah was cross-promoted on both sides, with different credits for each. GMTV won the licence for the breakfast Channel 3 franchise from 1993, outbidding
245-526: A public service broadcaster and its viewers. The breaches were extremely serious as they involved longstanding and systematic failures in the conduct of broadcast competitions.' GMTV pledged to refund a total of £35 million to all viewers affected. A month later, the Serious Fraud Office took the decision to review the evidence from Ofcom into the phone-in scandal. An SFO spokeswoman said: 'Following media reports and some complaints received from
294-512: A regular basis as newspaper reviewers on Lorraine . Fern Britton Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English television presenter and author. She co-presented Breakfast Time in the 1980s and hosted the cookery game show Ready Steady Cook between 1994 and 2000 on BBC Two . Britton presented ITV's This Morning programme from 1999 to 2009. In 2012, she participated in Strictly Come Dancing , where she
343-528: A result, many changes were made shortly after: ITV Breakfast ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited (previously known as GMTV Limited ) is the national ITV breakfast television licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. GMTV , as an on-screen brand name, ended on 3 September 2010, with the newly-rebranded ITV Breakfast launching new weekday breakfast programmes Daybreak and Lorraine on 6 September 2010. In March 2014, it
392-624: A revival of the ITV show Mr & Mrs ; this time it was an " All Star " version. She co-hosted the show with Phillip Schofield. In November 2008, Britton announced she was to take a break from This Morning and return after the Christmas break in January 2009. Britton announced on 25 March 2009 that she was leaving This Morning , after 10 years, at the end of the current series. Two days after quitting This Morning , Britton pulled out of hosting
441-777: A subsidiary of ITV Studios . GMTV (1993 – 2000, 2009 – 2010) GMTV Newshour (1997–2009) GMTV Today (2000–2009) GMTV with Lorraine (2009–2010) Daybreak (2010–2014) Good Morning Britain (2014–present) GMB Today (August 2017) Good Morning Britain with Lorraine (March–July 2020, December 2021) Lorraine (2010–present) Formerly, Victoria Derbyshire , Mark Durden-Smith , Julia Hartley-Brewer , Kevin Maguire , Aasmah Mir , Andrew Pierce , Adil Ray , Celia Walden , Yasmin Alibhai-Brown , Oona King , Olly Mann , Michael Portillo and Natasha Courtenay-Smith appeared on
490-508: A three-book deal with the publishers HarperCollins and is working on a television script. She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2002 when she was surprised by Michael Aspel at Wickham Hospital in Buckinghamshire. In May 2011, Britton played herself in a short independently made film by Mark Davenport called Photoshopping alongside lead Joan Kempson. In January 2018, it was announced that Britton would play Marie in
539-542: A weather presenter. Phillips left GMTV on 18 December that same year, after 12 years as its main presenter. She told viewers that leaving was 'one of the hardest decisions I've ever made'. ITV plc attempted to buy out Disney 's stake in GMTV, following its gaining of 75% control, in order to secure 24-hours control of Channel 3 in England and Wales ; it eventually paid £18m for the remaining 25% on 25 November 2009. As
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#1732772140128588-468: A year since April 2003 on entering premium rate phone competitions. Paul Corley, managing director of GMTV, said: 'I'd just like to apologise for everything that's gone on. GMTV had trusted Opera, but, the fact is it appears two or three people at this telecoms company were taking it upon themselves to do this even without the knowledge of the management. This contradicted claims made by Panorama that in 2003, sales director Mark Nuttall at Opera had discovered
637-402: The 1980s and then reunited some of the original stars of selected shows. Julian Clary was her first co-host, followed by Matthew Kelly on the second show, and finally Bradley Walsh for the third. In December 2007, a Christmas edition was broadcast with co-host Ronnie Corbett , and a week later another was broadcast, this time with Desmond Lynam . From 2008 until 2010, Britton co-presented
686-453: The 2009 British Soap Awards alongside co-host Phillip Schofield. On 17 July 2009, Britton's 52nd birthday, her farewell This Morning programme was aired. Britton made her comeback to ITV in 2017, presenting daytime series Culinary Genius . She also presented A Right Royal Quiz for the channel. From 1994, Britton presented the television cookery gameshow Ready Steady Cook , which she continued until 2000, however she returned to
735-456: The ITC had criticised the company for being 'too entertainment-led', expressing concerns about other programme areas. The ITC said: 'They [GMTV] will have to put forward a strong case for changing the licence based on the viewers' preferences.' The request was denied, and by the end of its first year on air, the ITC had issued GMTV a formal warning for its 'unsatisfactory performance'. A final warning
784-406: The ITC in its Annual Performance Review of 1999: 'The overall programme quality improved...with more feature items and greater breadth of coverage, better journalistic and technical resources.' This led to increased audience share for GMTV among adult viewers; the weekend output for children was also strengthened. The ITC praised GMTV's greater emphasis on overseas coverage and access to key figures in
833-554: The Sun , before being paired up with Holmes to present the main programme shortly afterwards. Turner left the station on 24 December 1996, after a dramatic falling out between the pair, which finally resulted in Holmes publicly calling her 'Princess Tippy Toes'. However, management denied she was 'squeezed out', with Turner claiming she had left on her own accord. Fiona Phillips took over her role on 6 January 1997. In 1998, GMTV returned into
882-519: The cook and home economist Susie Magasiner. In November 2008, Fern, My Story was published by Michael Joseph . It went straight into The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller list where it remained for 12 weeks. Britton has written 6 novels New Beginnings , Hidden Treasures , The Holiday Home , A Seaside Affair , A Good Catch and The Postcard to date (November 2016). All have been in The Sunday Times bestseller list. In 2016, she signed
931-534: The earlier hours of the ITV Breakfast slot at weekends. The talk show Weekend was broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays at 8:30a.m. until 2017 when it didn't return after the Christmas break. It was hosted by Aled Jones . Various other similar talk shows have aired in this slot, including Martin & Roman's Weekend Best! . ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited is a subsidiary of ITV Broadcasting Limited. The shows broadcast are produced by ITV Breakfast Ltd,
980-444: The four remaining stakeholders to have an equal 25% stake in the company. In October 2003, STV made public its interest in acquiring Carlton and Granada's stakes in GMTV. Andrew Flanagan, chief executive, was quoted as saying: 'We would be interested in buying GMTV. You need a trigger to try to do something and that's what we have tried to engineer.' STV believed having a controlling stake in GMTV would allow an effective command against
1029-610: The general public about GMTV's use of premium rate telephone services, we are in touch with Ofcom although no SFO investigation is under way...furthermore, the SFO will await the outcome of Ofcom's investigation into ITV's use of premium rate telephone services as highlighted in the Deloitte report.' On 10 March 2008, the Serious Fraud Office decided not to investigate the phone-in scandal, stating it did not meet its criteria for an investigation. A major overhaul of GMTV output took place during
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#17327721401281078-588: The major interviews, and in information content in programming for school age children.' During 1999, the STV Group held talks into buying out the other shareholders in GMTV, with Disney believed to be keen on the idea. By September, an agreement had been reached to acquire Guardian Media Group's 15% stake for £20 million, but both Carlton and Granada objected to the deal. Guardian Media Group concluded in selling off its 15% stake in GMTV for £18 million in January 2000, with all three companies receiving 5% - allowing
1127-463: The newly formed ITV sales department. In September 2004, ITV plc purchased STV Group 's 25% in the company for £31 million after being given the go ahead from the Office of Fair Trading - despite advertisers' fears it could give ITV influence over pricing. SMG said: '[We] are pulling out of GMTV because it did not want to hold a minority interest in someone else's media business.' In 2005, Holmes left
1176-517: The news, particularly for live interviews. Social action programming was particularly successful. There were signs of improvement in the information content of the magazine programme for older children, Diggit (previously criticised by the ITC). The ITC proposed improvements in two areas to be made priorities for the year ahead: '... In Sunday programming for adults, where there is scope for better background and analysis to key political stories alongside
1225-425: The package to rectify the issues, American children's television series Barney & Friends was introduced, in addition to the "Reuters News Hour" and an upmarket Sunday morning programme. By 1994, GMTV had achieved high enough standards to avoid the fine and for the first time, had made a profit. In July 1994, Anthea Turner joined GMTV to present - along with Mr. Motivator - the summer holiday feature Fun in
1274-608: The post-9:00 am slot, Top of the Morning . Britton moved back to Carlton Television to present After Five in 1994. She also appeared in the first two series of The Brian Conley Show . Britton had guest presented This Morning since 1993, but from September 1999 she became a full-time host presenting the Friday edition with John Leslie . In 2002, she became the main host of the series along with John Leslie and, later, with Phillip Schofield . In 2006, Britton co-presented
1323-501: The previous licence holder, TV-am , in the 1991 franchise round for £34 million. The station was backed by LWT , STV , Disney , and the Guardian Media Group . GMTV promised a 'cheerful morning and with more information' - termed the 'F-factor'. A new children's news bulletin was to be broadcast at 7:20 am every morning, while at 8:50 am during the week, a new female-led format was also planned. Carlton bought
1372-470: The programme will be fundamentally different from TV-am . It will be a rolling programme, with two presenters in which the news will be long or as short as the news dictates. It's in a sense a news programme but it's a very soft news agenda, although if there is a big story we will ditch everything and cover it better than TV-am would have. GMTV also turned down an offer from David Frost to continue with his Sunday morning programme, instead choosing to introduce
1421-463: The programme, including new equipment such as Avid editing suites. This then led to the relaunch of GMTV on 5 January 2009, introducing Emma Crosby and Kirsty McCabe , who themselves replaced Fiona Phillips and Andrea McLean . In July 2008, it was announced that McLean would quit working on GMTV to focus on her role on Loose Women , to share the permanent host job with Jackie Brambles . On 31 December that year, McLean left GMTV after 11 years as
1470-566: The reality television show Soapstar Superstar . On 31 May 2007, she hosted the Classical Brit Awards at the Royal Albert Hall and she also co-hosted The British Soap Awards from 2006 until 2008 with Phillip Schofield. In 2007, Britton presented her own ITV Saturday night series called That's What I Call Television . In each show, she was joined by a celebrity co-host who selected their favourite TV moments from
1519-428: The red, with losses of £12 million and a turnover of £80 million In November of that year, GMTV finally received a windfall: the ITC reduced the amount the station had to pay to the treasury from £50 million to £20 million - the most dramatic reduction of all the licenses. The ITC believed this would allow GMTV the money to invest in more programming. GMTV continued to strengthen its output, receiving further praise from
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1568-934: The show as a celebrity contestant in 2001. Britton has appeared twice as a panellist on the BBC show, Have I Got News for You , and guest presented on 27 April 2007 and on 17 October 2008. In 2009, Britton returned to the BBC and was a team captain on the BBC One trivia panel show As Seen on TV . Since 2009, Britton hosted a series for BBC One called Fern Britton Meets... in which she interviewed high-profile personalities about their religious beliefs. The series attracted particular attention for an interview with former Prime Minister Tony Blair , in which he said he still would have thought it right that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein be removed even without evidence he had weapons of mass destruction . Since 2014, Britton has presented The Big Allotment Challenge for BBC Two . The series
1617-434: The situation and sent an e-mail to staff, saying: 'Make sure they never find out you are picking the winners early.' Two senior executives resigned: Controller of Enterprises Kate Fleming, and Managing Director Paul Corley. On 24 September that year, Opera was fined £250,000, while GMTV was fined £2 million by Ofcom , who stated: 'the breaches constituted a substantial breakdown in the fundamental relationship of trust between
1666-512: The station had lost 2 million viewers. Mark Lawson of The Independent dubbed the new franchise 'Grinning Morons Television'. Greg Dyke was appointed chairman of the GMTV board and tasked with overhauling the station format, which included 'more popular journalism'. His role was primarily to bring new and imaginative ideas to the station without taking on full day-to-day running. Within three days, Howell had resigned; Dyke had refused to endorse any of her programming strategy for GMTV. Her replacement
1715-407: The station. It was later exposed he was deeply unhappy with the 'dumbing down and commercialisation', which resulted in him hating his bosses. In April 2007, BBC One 's programme Panorama made claims that Opera - a company dealing with GMTV's phone-in competitions - were finalising shortlists of potential winners 'long before' lines closed, which resulted in viewers wasting an estimated £10 million
1764-403: The summer of 2008 - resulting in part from the loss of viewers to new competition from other digital channels, and to counter criticism that its output had become too lightweight. Red Bee Media was brought in as a consultant, with a view to refreshing the station's on-screen look, which had changed very little since 1993. ITV and Disney agreed a £4.5 million investment to modernise the production of
1813-527: The then-incumbent ITV regional company, as a continuity announcer and newsreader on the weeknightly local bulletin Westward Diary . After Westward lost its franchise at the end of 1981, Britton moved to the local BBC headquarters as a presenter with Spotlight in the South West, before moving to BBC 1 's Breakfast Time , where she became the BBC's youngest-ever national news presenter. She
1862-479: The time and her preparation for the part was filmed for the programme. Britton has featured in advertisements for several companies and causes, including appearances as herself in advertisements for several Ryvita products including Ryvita Minis, and in the 2007 What's it going to take? campaign for the charitable organisation Women's Aid . March 1998 saw the launch of Britton's first book, Fern's Family Favourites , published by André Deutsch and written with
1911-576: The touring production of Calendar Girls The Musical . Britton's first marriage was to TV executive Clive Jones. The couple met while Jones was still married and began an affair. Britton broke off their affair after a year but Jones turned up on her doorstep two days later, after leaving his wife for her. The couple married on 12 November 1988 in Southsea and have three children together. The couple separated in January 1998. A year later, Britton began dating celebrity chef Phil Vickery after they met on
1960-590: The training sessions they held while they were dance partners on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, though Chigvintsev denied the claim. According to Britton, Chivintsev even joked that he would kill her. In 1988, Britton took part in Cinderella , a pantomime in which she played the role of Dandini at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton . She was presenting Coast to Coast from the city at
2009-418: Was Peter McHugh. On 8 February, following continued poor ratings, Wilson had moved to present a new 'news-focused' slot from 6 to 7am (which in 1994 became the "Reuters News Hour"). Armstrong continued to co-present with Holmes until 12 March, Armstrong was replaced by Lorraine Kelly , with her former position as presenter of the post 9am slot Top of the Morning taken up by Fern Britton . On 19 April, GMTV
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2058-697: Was also a stand-in co-presenter on News After Noon during this period. Britton then worked for TVS in Southampton , co-hosting the South edition of the news programme Coast to Coast with Fred Dinenage , as well as Coast to Coast People , The Television Show , Magic Moments and, as presenter with Stefan Buczacki , of That's Gardening . She stayed until TVS's franchise ended in December 1992. In January 1993, she joined London News Network 's London Tonight , before moving in April 1993 to GMTV to present
2107-478: Was announced Daybreak had been axed amid poor ratings. The programme was replaced on Monday 28 April 2014 by Good Morning Britain , reprising the title of a previous ITV's early-morning programme. The Lorraine segment has not been affected by the changes. At weekends, ITV Breakfast would air children's programming, a simulcast of the channel CITV , until August 2023, when kids programmes were moved to ITVX and ITV2 . Daytime repeats are now broadcast during
2156-508: Was broadcast on 3 September 2010. GMTV transmitted daily from 6 am with GMTV's weekday breakfast magazine programme GMTV broadcasting until 8:25 (9:25 on Friday), followed by GMTV with Lorraine (Monday to Thursday), until the regional ITV franchises took over at 9:25 am. In later years, the switchover was practically seamless and the station was 'surrounded' in the most part by ITV Network continuity on either side of transmission. Consequently, most viewers perceived GMTV simply as
2205-506: Was commissioned for a second series which aired in early 2015. In January 2016, she began presenting the BBC One antiques game show For What It's Worth . On 2 November 2009, Britton appeared as a stand-in host on The Paul O'Grady Show for two weeks. On 2 February 2011, it was confirmed that Britton would be taking over the 5:00 pm chatshow slot on Channel 4 that Paul O'Grady previously hosted. The show, Fern , began on 28 March 2011. The programme drew low audience figures and
2254-475: Was given in May 1994; GMTV would face a fine of £2 million unless standards improved. The ITC acknowledged that considerable improvements had taken place up to the start of that year, but its news bulletins continued to be 'unsatisfactory, and initially too short to cover depth or authority', adding: 'its current affairs and children's material did not meet the aspirations... in terms of quality or production.' As part of
2303-518: Was paired with professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev . Since 2010, she has also published a number of bestselling novels and books of short stories and non-fiction. In March 2024, she was a finalist on Celebrity Big Brother , and finished in 5th place. After working with The Cambridge Theatre Company, Britton began her broadcasting career in March 1980 in Plymouth working for Westward Television ,
2352-480: Was reported to be facing a revamp, change of timeslot or cancellation after its second week on air. The show has since been confirmed as axed in its present form but Britton may work on other projects for Channel 4. On 10 September 2012, Britton was confirmed as one of the 14 celebrities taking part in the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing . Her professional partner was Artem Chigvintsev . In 2015, Britton accused Chigvintsev of kicking and shoving her during
2401-548: Was revamped, including a new set that mimicked that of TV-am. Sally Meen become the new weather presenter while Penny Smith became the main newsreader, joining from Sky News . Within the first six months, GMTV had reported £10 million losses which was double that it initially budgeted for. In early September, GMTV approached the Independent Television Commission (ITC) regarding the possibility of decreasing its quota of news. Just two months earlier,
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