Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan rummage in their archive for Channel 5

The daytime darlings are celebrated with a documentary…

Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan are the eternal ‘king and queen’ of British daytime television, 36 years after they entered the national consciousness, launching This Morning in 1988.

Now, some years after Judy stepped back from television, they’re reunited on screen to look back over their broadcasting careers, enjoy some favourite moments, and reveal a few secrets about what went on behind the scenes on their hugely popular shows.

Before Richard and Judy became so famous they were known only by their first names, they were local news reporters who first met in the Granada Television newsroom in 1982. It was their work presenting together as husband and wife hosts of Granada’s regional input into the 1988 ITV Telethon that led to the moment of casting them as the faces of the new daytime magazine show, This Morning, launching that autumn….

The first episode of This Morning, as aired in 1988

Richard and Judy’s accessible journalism made This Morning more than just a magazine show on television; it became an engaging mix of lifestyle features, celebrities, health and agenda-setting campaigns, with the duo putting their viewers at the heart of the show’s content.

So, it came as a huge bombshell when they quit ITV after 13 years, leaving for Channel 4 where they conquered the teatime audience with a new show. They also made an earthquake in the publishing industry by launching Richard and Judy’s Book Club, which enjoyed stratospheric success.

In this special programme, Richard and Judy talk with candour and honesty about the shows they were so indelibly associated with, and their highs and lows onscreen together. In addition to newly unearthed archive of their early work, the programme features highlights from their long careers and testimony from their colleagues who played a part in their story.

Richard and Judy Our Best Bits, airs tomorrow, (Sunday 7th July) at 7 pm on Channel 5