On paper, Kate Garraway taking over from Piers Morgan as ITV’s collector of celebrity tears looked like a win-win – or at the very least a not lose-not lose.
Despite Morgan’s online spin and bloviation, the truth was that Life Stories had been shedding viewers faster than a sulky man exiting a TV studio live on air.
So there was no pressure on Kate in terms of ratings.
The other bonus was that ITV would finally be able to book all those big-name guests who, for one reason or another (they didn’t like Morgan or they hated Morgan), had always refused to come on the show.
It remains to be seen how that will pan out, although the fact that Charlotte Church has already relented could be a good sign.
It helps that, for someone who has been in showbiz for so long, Kate appears to be universally liked.
Although a quick look back through her publicity shots does suggest she may have annoyed one or two hairdressers along the way.
Her biggest challenge will be to make her guests cry as often as Morgan did – as that appears to be the criteria ITV uses to decide whether an interview is a success these days.
On that score, I’m afraid the stoicism displayed by her first guest last night left Kate one-nil down.
To be fair, short of butchering the World In Motion rap right in front of his eyes, I doubt Morgan could have made John Barnes weep either.
The good news was that, as an interviewer, Kate did more than enough to suggest Life Stories may still have legs.
All ITV needs to do is book some interesting A-listers. First call? “Hi, Meghan and Harry, imagine how annoyed Piers Morgan would be if…”
