Former This Morning star Judy Finnigan 'no longer watches' the show

richard madeley, judy finnigan, this morning
Judy Finnigan 'no longer watches' This MorningKarwai Tang - Getty Images

Former This Morning host Judy Finnigan has revealed that she no longer watches the programme.

Finnigan presented the ITV magazine show with husband Richard Madeley from 1988 to 2001, but has said in a revealing new interview that she'll never appear on it again.

In a conversation with Saga Magazine, she said: "I no longer watch it, and won't appear on there to talk about my book. This isn't a protest, it's just a very different show than it was when we were doing it."

richard madeley, judy finnigan, this morning
Karwai Tang - Getty Images

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She also spoke about the situation with former host Phillip Schofield, who left the show in May after 21 years, after admitting to having a relationship with a "younger male colleague" who worked on This Morning.

Finnigan said: "I know the politics inside television are extremely dense, but it seems to me to be an extraordinary disaster of a stage in This Morning's life that I don't think needed to happen. Phillip is not a close friend but he is a friend, and I must admit I simply cannot understand why he had to go.

"I couldn't understand what I always thought was this unhealthy obsession with Holly and Phillip being best friends – therefore for the programme to work they had to be so close."

This Morning is currently looking for a new permanent host for the show, after co-host Holly Willoughby also left the show last month after 14 years.

holly willoughby this morning
Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock

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In a statement, she said: "To everyone who has ever worked on the show over the years, thank you so much. This is such a difficult goodbye, you are incredible and I forever will be proud of what we've done together."

This Morning has had a string of guest presenters in recent weeks, including Rylan, Rochelle Humes and Cat Deeley, who presented the show for the first time last week.

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.

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