Martin Frizell to leave This Morning role

Frizell has overseen the programme during several scandals and its worst ratings in its history…

A tabloid newspaper reports that Martin Frizell ‘is stepping down from the ITV show after ten years in charge’. Frizell most famously oversaw GMTV during its lowest low-brow years and has seen This Morning through its ratings and quality decline over the past decade. A show that used to garner over a million viewers is now lucky to pull in half-a-million.

If its content and viewership flagging wasn’t enough of a problem for Frizell to preside over – and try to turn around – he was also hit with several scandals that ultimately saw the ‘darlings of daytime’ Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby depart the daily dish up of topical news, fashion, cooking, comment and celebrity guests.

Ratings disaster: The current This Morning hosts: Ben, Cat, Alison and Dermot / ITV

Morning Live: Over double the viewers / BBC

In June 2023 Frizell hit the headlines himself when the This Morning programme editor was questioned by Sky News outside his home about the allegations that the production is a ‘toxic’ place to work, Frizell responded by stating that aubergines are toxic, adding “do you like aubergine?”

“This is a deeply inappropriate and disrespectful way to respond to questions about safeguarding vulnerable staff and bullying in the workplace at ITV.“ – John Nicolson, MP

Noting his reasons for leaving ITV Frizell stated he was prioritising his family, this comes after it was announced in July last year that his wife and former face of GMTV Fiona Phillips had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.

The Sun note that his departure has taken staff at TV Centre – where the show is produced – by surprise, with no one seemingly lined up to replace him as editor. In a statement, the tabloid report Martin as saying, ‘Next year I’m expecting my family priorities to change so I need to free up time for them. I love my team at ITV and will miss them and the thrill of live telly but it’s an always on, 24 hours a day, seven days a week commitment and I won’t be able to do both.’

Fiona Phillips, Martin’s wife has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease / GMTV

King and Queen of controversies, This Morning had several under Philip and Holly’s tenure / ITV

This Morning is currently being thrashed by BBC One, as is most of the stale ITV Daytime output with recent figures showing Morning Live drawing 1.20 million (32.4) while This Morning managed 587.000 (16.2). Prior to the first controversy the show was pulling in around 894,000, since the scandals the programme has never been able to pull back those disenchanted viewers. An award winner over its decades on air the programme has also, since its controversies, failed to win any recent TV gongs.

The end was nigh for the arrogant Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby when they were caught ‘queue jumping’ via a journalists ‘fast track’ entrance at the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II. The presenting duo, best known for starting their careers – not in Fleet Street but on children’s television – were seen, both videoed and photographed ‘jumping’ a long line of the general public to enter Westminster Hall where The Queen’s coffin was resting for the public to view before her funeral.

A quickly rushed ‘feature’ was recorded on a phone to try and explain away this incident – but the viewers weren’t being fooled ‘if this was an intentionally planned feature report, why not a proper camera like all the other outlets have used?’ asked one annoyed viewer. Journalism it wasn’t.

There was more annoyance with a ‘Spin to Win‘ competition that reflected how ‘out of touch’ the show had become from its Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan hosted days, that offered viewers a chance for their electric bills to be paid for a year during the cost-of-living crisis. This Morning was branded “dystopian”.

However, the editor and hosts were unrepentant in their stupidity; with no self-awareness of how they came across there was no apology for the gaff. Instead, ITV Daytime offered a snide retort by Schoefield in a later edition which once again glaringly showed the contempt held for the ‘tower block Tracey’s’ who watch the show (This apparently the term used internally for their low-income viewers).

The first episode of This Morning, as aired in 1988

Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford were ditched from hosting the Friday This Morning for younger hosts – and ratings went down

Things went from bad to worse when Schofield quit ITV for misleading colleagues and bosses over an affair with a younger man on the show and finally Holly decided to leave ITV Daytime following a serious threat from a stalker. This however didn’t impact her hosting on primetime.

“The problem is not Martin Frizell as such its the whole ITV Daytime and the way it works. It’s their own fault their morning shows are being strangled by BBC One – they have kept to a rigid tired line up for two decades, and then rather than inject new ideas they just extend the shows they already have. No one needs two and a half hours of This Morning in their life, and the ratings show that.” TV Critic Vivian Summers, who adds;

“When dealing with their own scandals they also alienate viewers by pretending everything is fine. ITV News, produced by ITN, covers ITV issues when they happen and indeed when Noele Gordon was sacked by ATV, the ATV News programmes covered it, discussed it and reported it – unlike ITV Daytime who bury their heads in the sand and hope it all will go away, quicker than Phil and Holly can jump a queue.”

Frizell will depart This Morning in the spring of 2025. The Sun reports a revamp of the programme is likely to follow.