Richard Madeley faced the axe from Good Morning Britain amid ITV’s mass cull but negotiations saved him and ensured he would stay on part-time but with a huge pay cut
Richard Madeley was reportedly close to facing the axe from Good Morning Britain, as part of ITV’s major overhaul of its daytime TV schedule. The TV presenter, 69, who is known for his straight-talking personality, is reportedly paid an estimated £300,000 a year for his role on the morning news show.
And in a shock move, it is believed that he had managed to negotiate a new part-time deal with ITV bosses, which will also mean a drop in his salary.
But it looks as though Richard was not the only one to be in the firing line amid ITV’s “bloodbath” cull of its daytime programming.
So too was Lorraine Kelly. According to The Sun, she was reportedly “asked to retire” but turned down the suggestion. Instead, she has decided to leave at the end of next year which ties in with the end of her £500,000 a year contract.
An insider told the publication: “This one has really rocked the ITV corridors because Richard is such a big name and a legend of daytime telly. On Wednesday, word started to spread he’d been axed.”
They added: “But, by Friday, it became apparent Richard had a meeting with the network’s most senior bosses and he’s now being kept on in a more part-time role. He’s got himself back on the show — but his hours are significantly cut.”
They then continued: “Lorraine was asked if she wanted to retire, having just celebrated her 40 years on breakfast TV, but she instead chose to see out her contract. “
This comes after it emerged that Lorraine and Loose Women will be dropped for half of the TV year as the broadcaster announced job cuts of more than 220 people.
Good Morning Britain will now take over Lorraine’s 9-10am schedule slot for 22 weeks of the year. For the rest of the time, Lorraine will present five days a week, which means Christine Lampard and Ranvir Singh, who were her Friday stand-ins, will not be returning.
According to MailOnline, the shock decision to make such a huge cull was to in order to invest in more dramas.
A source told the publication: “There is a need to cost save but also so that the right money can go to the right shows and with everything getting more expensive these things have to be looked at.”
They added: “Christine and Ranvir remain part of the ITV daytime family.”
One programme that remains safe is This Morning along with it’s presenters Alison Hammond, Cat Deeley, Ben Shepherd and Dermot O’Leary.
Kevin Lygo, who is the Managing Director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, explained: “Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.
He added: “These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever.”
Kevin continued: “I recognise that our plans will have an impact on staff off screen in our Daytime production teams, and we will work with ITV Studios and ITN as they manage these changes to produce the shows differently from next year, and support them through this transition.”
“Daytime has been a core element of ITV’s schedule for over 40 years and these changes will set ITV up to continue to bring viewers award winning news, views and discussion as we enter our eighth decade,” he said.
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