There could be more woe for ITV, if the channel loses one of its top names from breakfast telly.
Richard Madeley – who regularly goes viral on social media in clips of his comments on screen – is being schmoozed by a rival channel who are set to make a swoop for him.
Richard, 67, who used to host This Morning with wife Judy Finnegan, 75, has a long-standing relationship with the broadcasters and has just signed up for a series documenting the couple becoming grandparents.
The series will chronicle them alongside their daughter Chloe, 35, and her husband, rugby player James Haskell, 38, who are new parents to nine-month-old daughter Bodhi.
But with Good Morning Britain’s former assistant editor Ben Briscoe now at the helm of programming on GB News, executives are keen to make a play for one of GMB’s top names.
They invited Richard to see the GB News studios in London’s Paddington on a tour last week.
A source said: “It would be a huge coup to bag a name like Richard. Not only is he a household name, he is a big name on social media thanks to all his off-the-cuff remarks that a lot of younger viewers enjoy sharing.”
Indeed, Richard regularly gets comparisons to Steve Coogan’s TV presenter Alan Partridge. But he shrugs them off, saying: “Taking yourself seriously is daft.”
