Fern Britton ‘in talks’ to return to This Morning

‘I left behind a lot of good friends,’ the presenter said

Fern Britton has said she may return to This Morning, 15 years after leaving the daytime ITV series.

The presenter, 66, became a full-time This Morning host in 1999 and left the show ten years later when she was replaced by Holly Willoughby.

Britton said she’s currently in talks with ITV about making a series of films for the programme. Producers approached her with the offer following her guest appearance on the show in March.

Speaking to Women & Home magazine, Britton said conversations about the This Morning short films are still ongoing but expressed enthusiasm to make the project happen.

“Little four minute films now and again?” Perfect,” she said. “If I could just do them in Cornwall, that would be even more perfect!”

The former host revealed many of the This Morning team she worked with in the 1990s and early 2000s are still part of the show today, calling her recent guest appearance a “real trip down memory lane”.

“It was wonderful to be close to people who meant a lot to me,” she said. “I left behind a lot of good stuff and a lot of good friends, so going back was lovely.”

Former co-hosts Fern Britton and Phillip Schofield on ‘This Morning’ (Ken McKay/Shutterstock)

Britton teased the new project, detailing she would most like to do TV interviews that are “something to do with politics”.

“I’m not interested in party politics but politicians, and where the minds of those characters that we vote for are at,” she specified of her interests.

The broadcaster added she wouldn’t mind which party the politicians are from “as long as they’re speaking truly to the country and understand what’s going on in the world”.

Britton was rumoured to have left This Morning in 2009 due to an ongoing feud with Phillip Schofield.

Britton on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ (Shutterstock for Big Brother)

Back in March, while she was a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother, the presenter alluded to her rivalry with her former co-host.

When Gary Goldsmith said he thought Schofield, who dramatically quit This Morning in May 2023 after admitting to lying about an affair with a younger male colleague, might be a late entrant in the house, Britton looked alarmed.

“Maybe he’s coming in as a surprise? I might have to leave at that point,” she said.

When prompted to reveal her true feelings on This Morning, whose behind-the-scenes tensions made headlines in 2023, Britton continued: “Genuinely, I haven’t been there for 15 years – I got off the train and it’s way over the horizon now, so I honestly don’t know.

“I can’t say anything. It was tricky at times. I think Ben [Shephard] and Cat [Deeley] are going to do a great job.”