Phillip Schofield issued an immediate apology to one of This Morning's latest guests as he addressed an off-air error.
The presenter and his co-host Josie Gibson, who is still filing in for Covid-positive Holly Willoughby, were joined on the ITV daytime show by Barbara Lisicki, an activist who helped change history in the 1990s by tirelessly campaigning for equal rights for people with disabilities. She was appearing on the programme to chat to the hosts about the upcoming BBC drama, Then Barbara Met Alan, which is inspired by her real-life relationship with Alan Holdsworth.
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However, before the interview began, Phillip apologised to Barbara and let viewers know that the show had accidentally sent an unsuitable car to pick her up to bring her to the ITV studio.
"It's lovely to have you here," he said to Barbara. "I'm actually going to start not the way I planned to start this chat because I'm going to start with an apology. Reading you story this morning, there's parts of it I've never heard before and that's the important mission you were on and still are on.
"I looked towards the end of the interview and thought how much are we progressing and how much better are we getting and then I find out that the car company we use for this show - and we specifically asked them for a car that would enable your access - but we had to change the order of the show today because they didn't send a car you could get into."
The 59-year-old TV star then added: "So we still have a long way to go," as Barbara replied: "It's one of life's daily ironies," before Phillip then asked how it feels when something like that happens.
"It's a frustration that all disabled people encounter. It's big stuff, it's little stuff but there's always a barrier to just being able to get on with following your plans or living your life."
The BBC drama inspired b Barbara's real-life relationship had been commissioned to mark the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act and will follow activist couple Barbara and Alan who led the fight to secure life-changing civil rights for disabled people in the UK.
Together they organised brave, co-ordinated protests that pushed the campaign for disabled rights into the spotlight. They chained themselves to buses and they blocked streets. Wheelchair users were lifted from their chairs by police and laid down in the roads to try to deter them.
While appearing on This Morning, Josie was asked why Barbara chose a drama over a documentary but she revealed it 'wasn't her choice' but that she was 'delighted' as the company, Dragonfly, approached BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Jack Thorne to write it.
When Phillip asked if she was 'skeptical' about the TV film at first, Barbara said: "I was surprised because I was expecting it do be just a regular talking-heads documentary but the idea of a drama grew on me more and more and then I met Ruth [Madeley, who plays Barbara in the film]."
