TV icon Jane McDonald has been busy in rehearsals as she prepares to host the British Soap Awards.
The awards, which will air on ITV on Tuesday 6th June, were previously set to be hosted by former This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield until Jane was announced as his replacement this week.
Schofield stepped down from presenting the awards after news of his affair with a younger coworker broke, with his lies about his affair also seeing him dropped by ITV and his management team.
Schofield had previously fronted the British Soap Awards since 2006 as the host that sees programmes such as Emmerdale, EastEnders, Doctors and Coronation Street battle it out for awards.
Jane was announced as the new host for the soap awards this week, with pictures now emerging of cruise singer Jane in rehearsals ahead of the event this week.
Earlier this week Jane spoke out about taking over as host for the British Soap Awards as she said: "I'm so excited to be this year's host for The British Soap Awards!!
"Everyone knows how much I LOVE my soaps, this year I’ve been honoured to be mentioned in Corrie, EastEnders and Emmerdale so this is just a dream come true.
"I can’t wait to see all our wonderful soap nominees and celebrate all their hard work with them - roll on the awards, I can’t wait!"
Jane will host the awards, which will air on ITV and ITVX on Tuesday 6 June from 8pm, with soaps and their cast waiting to see who will win the awards for gongs including Best Villain, Best Leading Performer and Best Young Performer. All awards are voted for by the public, with voting now closed and the decisions for who will win each award now made.
Jane's step up as the host comes after Phillip Schofield stepped down from the drama at ITV after it was revealed he had concealed an affair with a younger colleague whilst working at This Morning. Initially, he had stepped down from his role at This Morning after 21 years but it later emerged he was quitting ITV altogether with the channel confirming they would no longer be working with him.
Phillip said in a statement, which can be read in full here: "I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning. Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over."
He also said: "I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me. I will reflect on my very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it."
ITV confirmed their stance to the Mirror as an ITV spokesperson said: "We are deeply disappointed by the admissions of deceit made tonight by Phillip Schofield.
"The relationships we have with those we work with are based on trust. Philip made assurances to us which he now acknowledges were untrue and we feel badly let down.
"We accept his resignation from ITV and therefore can confirm that he will not be appearing on ITV as had previously been stated."
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@trinitymirror.com or call us direct 0207 29 33033.
* Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
