RICHARD Madeley is back on Good Morning Britain today (Thursday) after saying he’s ready to be the new Piers Morgan.
TV stalwart Richard Madeley has been a stand-in presenter on the ITV show since 2017, and is the bookies’ favourite to take over permanently.
Richard, 65, tweeted: “Not one, not two, but three early morning alarms by my bed tonight – back on guest co-hosting duties with Good Morning Britain tomorrow (Thursday).
“Good to be back (well, for me… as to you, I can only apologise…) See you there, folks!”
Richard will be back in the hotseat again after Piers dramatically stormed off Good Morning Britain in March.
Speaking to The Celeb Report exclusively last week, Richard confirmed our story he will be back on air next month, and believed he was a good fit to take over as Susanna Reid’s co-host full time.
He said: “Good Morning Britain, it’s a good show to do. It suits me and, yeah, I think I suit it.”
We revealed last month how Richard had become the front-runner for the plum role, with bosses looking to extend the deal if he proved a hit.
He said: “Whether I’m going to be asked to take over, I have no idea. I have had no approach at any level formally or informally.
“The phone hasn’t rung, I haven’t had a ping into my inbox.
“The bookies have me down as the front-runner and there have been opinion polls where I’ve come out reasonably well, but there’s a huge difference between that and it being a reality.
“I’ll go in, I’ll fill in, I’ll enjoy it and I hope they ask me back. But in terms of sitting in for Piers, it’s a completely open question.”
If he does get the call, ITV will need to offer good terms.
Richard said: “My attitude is easy come, easy go.
“I don’t have a career plan. I’ve turned down a lot of stuff because I think, ‘This sounds too much like hard work’. It’s got to be fun.
“If I was 40, at some fulcrum of my career, a potential opportunity like this would mean a lot more. But I’ve been around so long.
“Judy and I did 21 years together on This Morning then on Channel 4 and you feel you haven’t got anything else to prove.”
Of the other mooted candidates — including Judge Rinder, 42, GMB veterans Ben Shephard, 46, and Adil Ray, 47 — Richard gave his backing to recent fill-in host Alastair Campbell, 63, despite the ex-Labour spin doctor’s gaffe “announcing” the Queen’s death while talking about her late husband Prince Philip.
