Holly & Phillip are not neutral in this, so there might not be comfortable talking about their friends or maybe know more about the backstory and would rather stay clear.
So much uninformed speculation going on here over the last few pages, both in terms of the personal issue and the professional issues as a result of it.
BGT live shows seems more straightforward, Stephen Mulhern will already be in the studio, so could present with Dec if Dec doesn't go it alone. If Dec can't / won't present without Ant then BGT becomes Stephen's show this series.
The live shows are still two months away, though we don't know when his court hearing will be yet and indeed what the outcome of that is. Usually it's a fine and suspension but they do take things much more seriously when other vehicles are involved. Presumably though if they lock up Ant they have to lock up Dec too - that's how it works right!
Anyway, I suspect Dermot would get asked before Stephen. In many ways it would actually be more difficult to replace Stephen on More Talent than Ant and Dec on the main show.
Be a shame to break the news to families who received places on the plane, if the last two shows don’t go ahead. However, they probably wouldn’t care.
Even if the shows don't go ahead I highly doubt they'd withdraw the prize - they won't want anymore bad publicity. The winners will get their trip, just without the live SNT.
Rather surprised that this weeks episode has been cancelled, I would've been less surprised if they had simply replaced Ant with someone like Holly Willoughby for the week. That said, Ant & Dec are a brand themselves, and I can't think of a time when they've actually presented seperately. Surely this puts the other episodes into jeopardy too.
As an aside, pretty pitiful on This Morning's part for not mentioning this today, IMO. It was, and remains, *THE* story for their typical audience... Holly & Phillip clearly had an editorial say in this, it's a shame whoever was editing today didn't tell them they should be covering it. If anything, it made them look foolish, as people noticed, and called them out for it. Not to mention, it led GMB and was mentioned on Lorraine.
And, realistically, what could they say about it that hasn't already been said? Ok, a phone-in about relapsing could've happened, but today's segment would already have been organised and whatever experts they had in booked. If a statement from Ant himself is released (i.e. when we actually know the facts), we might see something like this later in the week.
I'm not sure how anyone could blame Phillip and Holly for not wanting to fuel the speculations, bearing in mind their close friendship with Ant.
Last edited by alexjac0788 on 19 March 2018 6:24pm
Rather surprised that this weeks episode has been cancelled, I would've been less surprised if they had simply replaced Ant with someone like Holly Willoughby for the week. That said, Ant & Dec are a brand themselves, and I can't think of a time when they've actually presented seperately. Surely this puts the other episodes into jeopardy too.
As an aside, pretty pitiful on This Morning's part for not mentioning this today, IMO. It was, and remains, *THE* story for their typical audience... Holly & Phillip clearly had an editorial say in this, it's a shame whoever was editing today didn't tell them they should be covering it. If anything, it made them look foolish, as people noticed, and called them out for it. Not to mention, it led GMB and was mentioned on Lorraine.
This Morning isn’t Newsnight. It covers stories it’s comfortable with. The Ant case is far to complex to be a discussion on the programme and far to close to home. It’s also an on going case, so do you expect them really to do a phone in about it?
This Morning isn’t Newsnight. It covers stories it’s comfortable with. The Ant case is far to complex to be a discussion on the programme and far to close to home. It’s also an on going case, so do you expect them really to do a phone in about it?[/quote]
Doesn't normally stop them slating someone when it's ongoing or don't have all the facts!
This Morning absolutely right to skip over it due to the much stated friendship between the two pairs. Had Eamonn and Ruth been on it might have been treated differently.
Rather surprised that this weeks episode has been cancelled, I would've been less surprised if they had simply replaced Ant with someone like Holly Willoughby for the week. That said, Ant & Dec are a brand themselves, and I can't think of a time when they've actually presented seperately. Surely this puts the other episodes into jeopardy too.
As an aside, pretty pitiful on This Morning's part for not mentioning this today, IMO. It was, and remains, *THE* story for their typical audience... Holly & Phillip clearly had an editorial say in this, it's a shame whoever was editing today didn't tell them they should be covering it. If anything, it made them look foolish, as people noticed, and called them out for it. Not to mention, it led GMB and was mentioned on Lorraine.
This Morning isn’t Newsnight. It covers stories it’s comfortable with. The Ant case is far to complex to be a discussion on the programme and far to close to home. It’s also an on going case, so do you expect them really to do a phone in about it?
I didn't say anything about a phone-in.
I'm saying they should've covered it, in some way, at the very least. What I think you're forgetting is that for most of This Morning's viewers, this story was *the story* of the day, and you know what? It'll probably be the biggest story of tomorrow, too. So, the team shouldn't ignore it because "they're not comfortable" with it. They should cover it because it's their remit, their patch, and what their audience is talking about. Holly and Phillip don't have to get opinionated, and like I say, I wouldn't have put together a phone-in for it, but they could've easily had a quick mention of it at the top of the show.
This talk of Holly & Phillip not being able to do it because of their friendship is bull - they're professionals, and should act like it.
This Morning absolutely right to skip over it due to the much stated friendship between the two pairs. Had Eamonn and Ruth been on it might have been treated differently.
You assume the presenters have an editorial say. I’m sure the This Morning production team don’t want to go around slating someone who indirectly pays their wages either. Plus I’m sure Eamonn and Ruth are good friends with Ant & Dec as well.
We definitely don’t want to give more air time to Dan Wooten, it’s bad enough that Lorraine has to have him on.
In terms of Chris Evans not being an excellent presenter because of Top Gear - one failure does not a poor presenter make. He made The Big Breakfast, Don't Forget Your Toothbrush and TFI Friday. Yes, these were all on Channel 4 rather than BBC1, but at his peak on TV he was drawing in a ton of money.
I would disagree that Noel Edmonds wasn't A-list. The house party in its day was the Saturday Night Takeaway of this generation.
In terms of This Morning:
- It made sense for Good Morning Britain to cover the story as it is predominantly a news programme. It would have been very difficult to avoid, and the show is journalist-led.
- Developing the story any further is very tricky because there is an active court case on the go. It's not like the Jamie Carragher one, where the incident was there for everyone to see, he quickly condeded he'd done it and apologised and everyone could come to a judgement on what had happened. As it stands, no comment should be made which could prejudice a jury should the case get that far.
- Lorraine's comments, while not entirely controversial, probably demonstrate perfectly why it should be treated as a straight news story and then left alone. What could This Morning have done to develop the story? Got some paper reviewers to land themselves in trouble by commenting on an active case? At the same time, I'm all for treating viewers as grown-ups so perhaps it could have been explained that they were limited in what they could say.
In terms of scheduling, I can't see what else they could have done. They have some difficult decisions to make re completing Saturday Night Takeaway - and I'm to be convinced that it will be back - but this at least buys them some time.
Anyway, I suspect Dermot would get asked before Stephen. In many ways it would actually be more difficult to replace Stephen on More Talent than Ant and Dec on the main show.
I very much doubt that would be the case. Stephen’s already associated with BGT and they’d risk a Ben Shepard Xtra Factor style walkoff from a host who’s been doing for over a decade.
Besides Dermot certainly hasn’t got the pulling power he once had, hence why they willingly dropped him from X a few weeks ago. Him and Mulhern are arguably on a par as hosts, Catchphrase can rate as highly as some episodes of X these days!
