BBC Breakfast viewers got a pleasant surprise on Wednesday morning when former presenter Louise Minchin made an unexpected return to show, ahead of former co-host Dan Walker's exit, with the show's former star opening up on a work struggle she'd kept hidden from colleagues.
It was a sad day for all involved with the show and its loyal fans when long-serving anchor Louise walked away from the daytime programme after nearly 20 years at the helm, having previously said she was very much looking forward to not having to set an alarm for the dead of night every day to get up. Dan got particularly sentimental during Louise's final broadcast, telling her the show 'would never be the same again' without her.
Since leaving BBC Breakfast, Louise has been a contestant on I'm A Celebrity and fronted a documentary about stalking for ITV, herself having been subjected to a terrifying campaign of stalking from a man who is now behind bars. She joined Dan and her replacement, Sally Nugent, in the BBC studio on Wednesday to talk about HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) after a shortage of the treatment sparked concern.
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Louise announced her return in Twitter in the early hours, telling her followers: "Good morning, I am on my way to @BBCBreakfast to talk about the #HRTshortages, have you had issues getting supplies and how does that make you feel?" Once in the studio, Louise talked about the affect going through menopause had on her, before she could get HRT and opening up about an issue she had at work that she'd kept hidden at the time.
She told Dan and Sally: saying: "For me it had physical impact; I had heart palpitations, I had tinnitus, I had all sorts of things. And I'm just going to give you one example of the real impact at work and I'm kinda feel nervous again, as I never told this to anyone at the time.
"I remember the brain fog is very real. It was very real for me and I remember sitting where you are Sally and it makes me really nervous to tell you, interviewing the then Chancellor, George Osbourne, and he was outside a JCB factory, so a very important interview on this lovely programme, lots of you watching and I couldn't say the letters JCB."
Louise added: "My brains just went into this extraordinary...and I just came off that day thinking 'my gosh! What is going on?' So these are very real problems; that was my problem at work and other people in different kind of work with have similar issues."
