It’s been 23 years since they shocked This Morning fans by stepping away from presenting duties.
But viewers had to do a double take when they tuned into the ITV daytime show on Wednesday, when Richard Madeley was back on the sofa.
In a role reversal, the broadcaster, 68, was a guest rather than a presenter, promoting his upcoming novel and being interviewed by Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard.
But opening her segment, Madeley, who hosted the magazine show with wife Judy Finnigan from 1988 to 2001, was seen sitting next to Deeley, 47, as the old theme song and credits played, giving viewers a a blast from the past.
“Hello, welcome back to Wednesday’s This Morning with me, Richard Madeley and Cat Deeley,” he said. ‘Today many more things await you in the program. How has your morning been so far?’
This Morning viewers had to do a double take when they tuned into the ITV daytime show on Wednesday, when Richard Madeley was back on the sofa alongside new presenter Cat Deeley.
In a role reversal, the announcer was a guest rather than a presenter, promoting his upcoming novel and being interviewed by Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard.
After opening the show with Cat, he was interrupted by current presenter Ben Shephard, who said: ‘Excuse me. Madeley, continue, on the other side of the couch.
He was then interrupted by current presenter Shephard, who said: ‘Excuse me. Madeley, go… to the other side of the couch.
“Then don’t spend so much time in the bathroom,” Madeley joked before moving to the guest couch and letting Shephard, 49, take a seat.
Reflecting on her years on the show, Madeley admitted that some segments including a live Viagra test and a live grizzly bear wouldn’t be allowed today.
‘He went for me. He was a grizzly bear. We must have been angry. “A lot of what we used to do on This Morning, like live Viagra testing for example, you wouldn’t do today,” he said.
You’d have Ofcom on your neck. But a live grizzly bear in the studio? Crazy.’
He said of the show’s longevity: “When we launched it in October 1988, there was a lot of jealousy. [from others] that he had pitched for the show and hadn’t gotten it, and Granada had gotten it.
‘And then there was a sort of consensus that it would stop airing at Christmas, but ITV gave it a year. In 1988 there was no television like it.
‘We went to America and watched American daytime shows that have been running for about 20 years. We are very inspired by them.
Reflecting on her years on the show, Madeley admitted that some segments including a live Viagra test and a live grizzly bear wouldn’t be allowed today.
‘It was a grizzly bear. We must have been angry. “A lot of what we used to do on This Morning, like live Viagra testing for example, you wouldn’t do today,” he said.
Madeley was there to talk about her dark new novel Father’s Day, about a man seeking revenge on his daughter’s online abuser.
“We put it to the test and then we went on the air and we were confident that we had a format that would last and it seems like it still works.”
Madeley, who now frequently appears as a relief presenter on Good Morning Britain, was there to talk about his dark new novel Father’s Day, about a man seeking revenge on his daughter’s online abuser.
[It’s about] the power of revenge. What would a father do? he said-. What would you do if it was your daughter who had been tricked into committing suicide? Taking her life. What would you do to the man responsible?
Shephard joked: “Look, you seem like a lovely, affable, easy-going guy, but Madeley has a dark, sinister side.”
Madeley and his wife were daytime television’s golden couple in the 1990s, leaving This Morning at the peak of its popularity to present Richard and Judy on Channel 4.
They admitted that part of the reason for leaving ITV was due to creative differences with the channel’s incoming boss, Maureen Duffy.
Madeley now presents breakfast show Good Morning Britain alongside Susanna Reid
Madeley returned to familiar territory while visiting the This Morning studio on Wednesday.
He became a household name on the show alongside his wife and former co-host Judy Finnigan.
They said they found it “very difficult to deal with” the internal politics at the channel and were unhappy with Duffy’s desire to make the show lighter.
“There were never any personal disputes between Maureen Duffy and us,” Madeley said, shortly after they left.
“But there were significant professional differences between our program team and the new boss, and we supported the team.”
Finnigan, 75, said the new team wanted her to handle the more “heartwarming” topics aimed at women, and her husband to be given the more “macho” human interest stories.
After they left the show, Fern Britton, 66, became the show’s main presenter, alongside Philip Schofield, 62.
Britton was replaced by Holly Willoughby, 43, when she left in 2009. Schofield presented the show until he was forced to resign last year when it was revealed he was having an affair with a much younger co-worker.
Willoughby left the show after 14 years last October after police uncovered a murder and kidnapping plot against him.
Madeley and Finnigan, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight in recent years, briefly returned to the This Morning sofa in 2019 to host a special episode.
“I was going to say it’s wonderful to be back, but it’s actually weird,” he said at the time.