During a Channel 5 special focusing on Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan’s shared career, Richard made a rather strange confession about their early days at Granada
Judy jokes with Richard about being his ‘mummy’ at Granada
Richard Madeley made a rather wild confession about his wife Judy Finnigan on their Channel 5 documentary Richard & Judy: Our Best Bits – In Our Own Words.
The programme documented their early days working together at Granada Studios, where Judy started out and Richard was later invited to work at. On his first day, however, Richard was assigned a “mother” to take him through an orientation.
Judy explained that it was standard procedure to assign someone a “mother or father” – an experienced employee who knew how things ran. And she was quick to tap Richard on the shoulder and say, “I’m your mummy!” as Richard turned to see a “beautiful blonde” standing there.
He previously explained: “I was sitting at my desk when this hand appeared on my shoulder and I looked up at this face and Judy said, ‘Hi, I’m your Mummy’ and I thought ‘Whaaaaat?’
“At Granada when someone new arrived, someone was appointed as their dad or their mum to show them round – the canteen, the toilets and all that. So Judy was my ‘mum’.”
It was to be love at first sight, as the co-workers would later tie the knot. They exchanged vows in 1986 – and their daughter Chloe has joked that the secret to their lengthy romance is “to not get divorced”.
She said: “They’ve been together for over 40 years and during that time there have been periods where they have really struggled, but they kept going and stayed together. I don’t think it was ever bad enough for them to split.”
Before tying the knot with Judy, Richard was married to Lynda Hooley – who he admitted to cheating on around 10 times. He told The Mirror: “Oh lots, numerous, probably in the space of about five years, about 10.
“Although the marriage had some very happy moments, there was a lot of negativity in it. I’m not using that as an excuse. It’s wrong to have affairs, but I was a very young man.”
