My Top Ten Tips to Rescue ITV’s ‘This Morning’ by Shu Richmond

Enough already! Given the coverage on Daytime TV’s latest crisis with Phillip Schofield and ‘This Morning’ I can keep quiet no longer. No, I’m not about to spill any beans but I’m bringing this website out of its retirement to say this: ‘This Morning’ should NOT be axed.

My friend of many years, Carol McGiffin speaks out on GB News to suggest ‘This Morning’ can’t survive this crisis. She’s not the only one to say that. But I disagree.

I joined ITV’s ‘This Morning’ as a Day Producer in the first year of its transmission nigh on 35 years ago. I have produced it, presented on it, nearly had to direct it the day the entire team were stranded in traffic on the M62  in Liverpool, edited it, executive produced it, left it many times and returned to it even more times.  I’ve worked with Richard, Judy, Fern, John Leslie, Phillip Schofield, Eamonn and Ruth – and many more stand-ins.  

The word ‘axe’ has appeared too many times in the press so just in case anyone is seriously thinking along those lines I’d like to present my Top Ten Tips to Rescue ‘This Morning’:

1.  DON’T PANIC!  The good ship ‘This Morning’ isn’t actually sinking. It’s just that so many people, not all of them actually on the ship, are racing around, hyperventilating and screaming about an iceberg that the chaos may actually lead to the beleaguered boat being run aground.

2.   Sorry Martin Frizell, you know how this works, you’ve been around the block as much as I have.  You were at the wheel at the time and regardless of your excellent qualities as an Editor something has to change, someone has to go.  Like the sacrificial goat. I rather suspect it’s going to be you. Not necessarily your fault, of course.  If you fancy a drink where we share war stories (I was Editor of the show when the John Leslie scandal blew up – and engineered for Phillip Schofield to replace him… )

3.  DON’T THROW THE BABY OUT with the bathwater!  You don’t need mass sackings, a totally new family of experts, a new title or different theme music.  Just take it back to its fine skeleton – the format that allowed the show to keeping creating good content for well over 30 years.  Now you need to work on the flesh, the muscles need firming up – there’s a bit of middle flab creeping in.  Maybe an IV injection of rejuvenating vitamins.

4.  Bring on the Brainstorm.  There is no better time to give the old show a good kick up the backside.  It is too easy to fill the editorial ‘slots’ on TM: here’s summer skirts for fashion, how to manage the perfect BBQ, coughs and colds in winter with the resident GP. Nothing wrong with all that but it also needs an element of surprise. Wake the audience up by giving them something different. Inspire the team to bring on some fresh new content. Given you need a very fresh start, try messing up that predictable format sometimes.

5.  Nurture the Production Team.  They are the people who actually make the show the success it is and has been for so long – not just the presenters. ‘This Morning’ is not the sum of its famous presenters – it is the culmination of massive amounts of creativity, hard work and experience over the years, all of which comes from the production team – with valuable contributions from on-screen talent. 

6.  POP THE PIMPLE! Is ‘This Morning’ production a toxic environment to work in?  That’s a big and important question that doesn’t get answered in a Top Ten list.  Working in TV is relentless and often unforgiving. It doesn’t suit everyone but if there is a boil then lance it. The most important job an Editor or management team has is to enable the production staff to work to the best of their ability in a positive and safe environment. Take time to listen to the team, understand their concerns and manage them effectively. I loved my team. Still do. Look after them!

7.  Take Away the Fear.  The problem with working in TV is the insecurity it engenders.  In a freelance market you are only as good as your last show. So if anything goes wrong – and it will – then people cast around for someone else to blame.  All too often the blame heads towards the less experienced members of the team because the senior members are too scared to take the flak.  The boss has to be brave enough to carry the can.  Doing this empowers your team, tell them that the buck stops with you and mean it. Make them feel safe enough that they are willing to push boundaries and deliver strong, original ideas.

8.  Remember Your History. It is notoriously difficult to start a new live daytime show successfully. The daytime audience are creatures of habit and love familiarity mixed with some surprises.  There are plenty of live shows that didn’t last. To grow a core audience, to bed in a new show takes time and these days advertisers and ratings-watchers won’t give you that time.  However tempting it is, do not ditch what you already have. Dianne Nelmes was my boss and mentor for many years but she’s also wrong to say it time to let the show die.

9.  A Dysfunctional Family is Normal Family.  ‘This Morning’ was – and I believe still is – a family both on-screen and off. And that means accepting that some members are going to be dysfunctional. Don’t make the rest of the family suffer because of what may turn out to be one man’s mid-life crisis. Let’s keep all this in perspective… 

10. Live your life with honesty and integrity and you can live without fear. If you hold a powerful position in TV you will need to resist the temptation to accept the expensive freebies, or take advantage of your status. If you are famous you will need to resist the temptation to think you are more important than others. Don’t be the TV Editor who thought it more important to have the budget pay for fresh flowers in their office every day than give a pay rise to an underpaid secretary. Don’t be the presenter who publicly tears a strip off an inexperienced researcher because something inevitably went wrong on air (and for the record I am not referring to Phillip Schofield here, I never saw, or heard of, him do that). Live and work with integrity. The more powerful you are, the more responsibility you hold for the care and good management of others.

Phil and Shu celebrating This Morning’s 21st birthday