When Fern returned it was replaced by a bizarre blend of the final R&J era titles and the 'scroller' titles of the mid 90s. They would fade into the coming up menu while the theme was still playing, and at the end of the menu the above sting would play.
They retained the cheap logo though didn't they until the autumn IIRC. I don't recall them going back to that logo officially, though a mess if they used it in the titles then used something else at the end.
Yes, the end of the titles was the sunflower sting. So a total mess.
Ratings for This Morning shed by half compared to when Richard and Judy were fronting the show who had 1.8 Million for their final show to around 900,000. BBC1 was now beating them at the ratings on multiple occasions.
It was already being reported by the BBC just one week into the new series that Coleen and Twiggy were going to be separated and would alternate hosting with John.
Fern was lured back from her Maternity leave early and put on a £250,000 a year contract to host for three days a week. Coleen continued to host with John for the other two days.
Overall it proved Coleen and Twiggy to be a costly partnership for ITV in both money and ratings.
It was reported that Twiggy was paid off £80,000 to leave the show after four weeks as well as receiving her wage on top until her contract ended.
No, the £80,000 was the sum of her wages for the remaining time left on her contract. So she didn't get a pay off, she just didn't work but continued to get paid.
Two common scenarios for this I guess - a (often younger) co-host bought in to an established show to freshen things up (and usually fail) such as Penny Smith joining Gordon Burns for the inevitable final series of The Krypton Factor.
The other is a show starting of with two hosts before one is dropped and forgotten by history. Natalie Casey initially co-hosted BBLB with Dermot O'Leary but was dropped quicker than you can say Zizi Ifore.