On screen, it’s all smiles and air kisses. But behind the scenes, the world of television presenting is nothing less than cut-throat.
Indeed, as I know only too well from my regular off-the-record chats with industry insiders, TV presenters face a constant, brutal battle to stay on top.
Potential enemies are everywhere – not least among all-powerful industry executives, who hire and fire at will.
Add to this whispers from potential rivals and audience backlashes, and you can see why even star presenters are keenly aware where they rank among their colleagues in the celebrity hierarchy. So who’s up and who’s down among the TV presenting glitterati?
I spoke to those in the know to find out who’s now part of the ultimate TV A-List – among them, a new very smiley plus-sized entry – and, just as importantly, who’s heading in the wrong direction.
Indeed, one very well-known household name who’s half of a famous double act better brace himself, as I’m told he’s beginning what could be a dangerous tumble down through the ranks…
The A-list
His star’s now so gleaming television bosses are convinced that, after a more than a decade of searching, they’ve found the new Bruce Forsyth, a presenter talented enough to light up Saturday night viewing. I’m talking, of course, about BRADLEY WALSH.
And fascinatingly, I’ve discovered both the BBC and ITV are desperate to make him their man.
For the moment BBC chiefs are claiming victory after poaching the former Pontins bluecoat from ITV to host their Gladiators reboot, leaving ITV furious as they were the ones to give the former Corrie actor a big break hosting teatime quiz show The Chase.
I’m told ITV bosses are now determined to find him a Saturday night slot. Indeed, as one viewer commented after watching Walsh on an ITV show where he and his son Barney went travelling together: ‘I paid for ITV Hub+ for this, and will cancel if there’s no series 3.’ If Walsh is as much of a money-spinner going forward as he has been, expect to see even more of him on our screens.
If ITV don’t win back Walsh, I hear they have another big name target: MICHAEL MCINTYRE, the BBC’s current king of Saturday nights, who tomorrow night will return with his hit programme Michael McIntyre’s Big Show. That he’s still such hot property after almost a decade of his programme is extraordinary testament to his staying power.
Also back on top is HOLLY WILLOUGHBY. It could’ve so easily gone the other way, after her much-discussed exit from This Morning. But after taking time out, following the foiling of a plot to kidnap, rape and murder her in October 2023, she’s now being offered roles at the BBC, ITV and Netflix. Being released from the shackles of This Morning could have been a potential disaster, but as one insider tells me: ‘When Holly was on This Morning she was too busy to do too much extra work but now she’s free she’s getting offered so much.’
Another superstar is Traitors presenter CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN. She’s come a long way after initially being ridiculed for her fringe and, lest we forget, starting her presenting career on BBC’s Holiday programme, followed by a stint on the distinctly uncool Talking Telephone Numbers.
Now, though, so broad is her fanbase there are even novelty mugs on sale on Etsy honouring her. ‘There’s literally no other presenter on TV right now like Claudia Winkleman,’ said one fan online. ‘I’m so obsessed with her.’
The freshest of new entries to the A-list is ALISON HAMMOND, who hit the jackpot with her This Morning role. But I hear she’s been buttering up … not her bosses at ITV – but the BBC, who gave her a show, Florida Unpacked, where she’ll tour the US state with her teenage son. It’s apparently made ITV furious.
‘They found her and handed her a huge opportunity to host This Morning,’ said one network insider. ‘Now look, everyone is stealing her, the BBC and Channel 4 [for her role on Great British Bake Off].’
Hammond, though, is sensibly keeping herself spread across the broadcasters as she makes the most of her arrival to the big time.
Loyalty, though, has been the making of the new Mr ITV, STEPHEN MULHERN. An invaluable member of the network, he’s benefited from Phillip Schofield’s downfall by gaining roles hosting Dancing On Ice, as well as Catchphrase and Deal Or No Deal.
Meanwhile, after an operation to remove a brain tumour, DAVINA MCCALL will be back in a few weeks to keep her crown as one of Britain’s best-loved presenters on ITV’s The Masked Singer. Davina’s canny pivot from Big Brother loudmouth to appealing to the more lucrative middle-aged female market is clearly paying off.
RYLAN CLARK, too, has completed a transformation years in the making, going from tacky reality TV embarrassment to middle-England darling. In demand, his Radio 2 show has cemented his fanbase, and he’s won a wide range of roles, including a BBC travel series. Canny Rylan apparently turns down many approaches he receives, his eye on the broader prize rather than short-term cash.
The B-list
Can there be anything more bruising than slipping from all-conquering A-listers to part of the so-so B team?
Just ask Ant and Dec – or perhaps more specifically, ANT MCPARTLIN.
After more than 30 years as a double act, ITV bosses are desperately trying to find who might step into the pair’s shoes, fearing viewers are now getting bored with them.
Viewing figures for their Saturday Night Takeaway show were disappointingly low and are said to be a contributing factor to it being put out of its misery last year, after 22 years on screen.
Part of the challenge appears to be the sheer longevity of the pair – both are now 49 – but as one viewer said online after watching one of the final episodes of Takeaway: ‘Ant and Dec are way too old now to be acting like little kids, it’s embarrassing… How can anyone think that this is good TV?’
More pertinently, though, while their PR machine has tried to move on from Ant’s drink-driving conviction and marital woes, bosses are only too aware that Ant isn’t the sparky, enthusiastic star he once was, with his recent tetchy encounters with contestant Dean McCullough on I’m A Celebrity attracting much attention, when he lost his temper with him during the trials.
One almost wonders the previously unthinkable – could DECLAN DONNELLY go solo?
Once she was the main draw on Strictly, but while her sidekick Claudia is now on the super A-list, TESS DALY isn’t quite the same level – so much so there’s long been chatter that some BBC bosses are keen on bringing Holly Willoughby to Strictly.
However, steely Tess has managed to fend off any threat and is about to sign a new contract for the programme. Indeed, she’s widely respected for her to-the-second live presenting skills – no mean feat, week in week out. As one fan cheekily commented online: ‘We call her the Tessbot. You can always rely on her to stay on the rails and deliver on time.’
Two new B-listers have come in thanks to their pairing: BEN SHEPHARD, going from a stand-in anchor on Good Morning Britain to saviour of This Morning. Co-star CAT DEELEY is also similarly adored by her bosses at ITV. However, from what I hear, they might want to keep Cat under a close eye: There are whispers the BBC are on manoeuvres now she appears to have quit her US show So You Think You Can Dance.
Someone who’s climbed from distinctly C-list to respectable B-list is the BBC’s HELEN SKELTON, host of Morning Live. In her case, her marriage breakdown, and her honesty about coping while raising her young children, has won support among the ‘mummies’ fan base on social media.
So much so that following her stint on Strictly, some members of the upper echelons at ITV are kicking themselves for not snapping her up. ‘We let her slip through our net,’ says one ITV source. ‘But never say never, we’d love her here.’
Another who’s achieved triumphs by speaking honestly about tragedy is KATE GARRAWAY. Her documentaries about the death of her husband, Derek, gave her a universal appeal, and a sense of ‘grit’ whereas she was previously seen as rather lightweight. She was handed Life Stories when Piers Morgan left ITV and bosses, I can reveal, are exploring other shows for her.
It’s also crunch-time for the new stars of Match of the Day. KELLY CATES, the hard-working daughter of former Liverpool footballer Kenny Dalgleish, is about to become a household name alongside experienced sports hosts GABBY LOGAN and MARK CHAPMAN. They’re on the B-list now – but could their new project propel them to the top? Or could it be more of a Matt Le Blanc on Top Gear-style disaster?
The C-list
After four decades at one broadcaster, you might imagine your position to be impervious. Not so for LORRAINE KELLY. I’m told by insiders at ITV that she’s suffered a fall from grace in the last year, attributed to the fact she isn’t ‘always the easiest’ to work with.
Expanding, insiders add ‘she makes all of the decisions’ – and, apparently, not in a good way. Added to this seeming high-handedness is a growing tendency not to present her own eponymous show. In the past 12 months, Lorraine’s presented her own show less than 60 per cent of the time, annoying both network bosses and viewers. After hiring top showbiz agent Jonathan Shalit she even attempted to make a switch to the BBC but only got a single appearance, guest presenting Have I Got News For You.
Meanwhile, PADDY MCGUINNESS, who defected from ITV to the BBC, is a ‘no likey’ these days. Once star of ITV Saturday night telly when he hosted the popular – but now very dated – Take Me Out, where a bachelor had to impress a panel of 30 single women, he was snapped up by the BBC to host Top Gear and Question of Sport.
However, neither programme exists any more and his ‘laddy’ style has fallen out of fashion. Most recently he was chosen to replace Gregg Wallace on Inside The Factory, prompting one insider to tell me: ‘Hardly glamorous, is it?’
Former BBC golden boy DAN WALKER, too, has had a fall. Once a much-loved breakfast TV host, he decided to chase the cash three years ago by moving to Channel 5. The problem for Dan is far fewer people watch him now. Obscurity, obviously, eventually takes its toll on your star power.
What, though, has happened to JOEL DOMMETT, the man once hailed by ITV bosses as a potential replacement for Ant and Dec? His stock was stratospheric after he won over viewers in 2016 as an I’m a Celebrity contestant.
Snapped up to host the spin-off show I’m a Celebrity: Extra Camp the following year, chiefs thought he’d be a winner with female viewers.
Stints presenting The Masked Singer and The Masked Dancer followed – shows, notably, where the panel of judges takes precedence over the host.
The BBC then pounced, signing him up as main presenter for the show Survivor in 2023. Yet that failed miserably, and Dommett returned to ITV, chastened and presenting a newly rebooted I’m A Celeb spin-off.
‘You have to wonder what he made of that,’ one of his colleagues tells me. ‘ITV had such high hopes for him. Where did it all go wrong?’
And how the mighty have fallen… GARY LINEKER, the highest earner at the BBC on a salary of £1.35million until he stands down from MOTD in May, limps on to our C-list, a decision insiders at the BBC tell me was based on the fact that he has few fans left there.
‘His appeal has gone to so many,’ said one. Over at ITV, too, he’s seen as yesterday’s man.
The D-list
Back in the early noughties, avid television watchers couldn’t get away from CAROL VORDERMAN, who presented Countdown, Britain’s Brainiest Kid, Star Lives and had a stint on I’m A Celeb. But now, after leaving radio station LBC following a ‘health scare’, her schedule appears rather empty.
Even her annual Pride of Britain role has had to be shared with a co-host, Ashley Banjo. Perhaps she’s become too shouty with her political statements on Twitter for her former gently devoted Countdown fans.
ADIL RAY, who co-created and acted in BBC comedy Citizen Khan, was another bright hopeful, but has turned into one of Good Morning Britain’s back-up hosts, rarely used these days. Perhaps the reason, as one employee at the show tells me, is viewers don’t like him: ‘He was on a lot to start with, but that quickly changed.’
Poor old RUTH LANGSFORD has also fallen down the ranks after her This Morning role ended, with her marriage to co-presenter Eamonn Holmes also terminating last year. Bar the odd Loose Women show which she anchors, she has a QVC programme – which admittedly is ‘very lucrative’ according to those who know her – but isn’t exactly good for her cachet with mainstream TV bosses. While she’s thrilled to have rid herself of Eamonn, TV bosses preferred her as part of a double act. There’s some doubt around how to market her now.
Viewer dislike was the cause for former Lioness ALEX SCOTT plummeting down the TV ranks. Articulate, talented and beautiful, she was handed the reins to the BBC’s highly popular Football Focus show, but viewing figures tanked. ‘She isn’t the star people thought she would be,’ says one insider.
The Z-list
It’s a race to the bottom for PHILLIP SCHOFIELD and his arch nemesis EAMONN HOLMES. Once stalwarts of This Morning, they were two of ITV’s most important male presenters. Eamonn also had various Channel 5 shows with ex-wife Ruth, including Eamonn And Ruth: How the Other Half Lives.
But their sheer irascibility hasn’t won them fans: ‘Both men have proven that they are not very likeable,’ said one TV executive.
‘And in going after one another in public, they haven’t helped themselves. They come across like troublemakers, like dinosaurs, and that isn’t very fashionable in television any more.’
While Eamonn still has a job hosting GB News’ breakfast show, Phil is struggling after his comeback on Channel 5. His one-man reality show Cast Away, was lambasted by many across the industry as being ‘desperate.’ Surely, there can be no further to tumble for scandal-hit Phil…