This Morning presenter Alison Hammond has opened up about her heartache as her colleague announces his departure from the show. Editor Martin Frizell confirmed on Wednesday that he will be stepping down after 10 years. The 65 year old media veteran, who joined ITV in 2014 and later took the helm at This Morning, is set to leave in Spring 2025. Reflecting on their time together, Alison shared: “I’ve worked with Martin for 10 years.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m absolutely devastated. He’s been a real rock for the show. But it’s totally understandable why he’s leaving. You all know about his wife (Fiona Phillips). We get why he’s leaving, it’s very amicable. He doesn’t want to leave but he has to for family reasons. We all understand that.”
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During her chat on Chris Evans’ Virgin Radio show, Alison expressed her gratitude to Martin,reports the Mirror. “He’s the one who got me back on TV. He said ‘Alison’s really good why don’t we use her’. So if it wasn’t for him you wouldn’t see Alison Hammond so we owe him a lot, we owe him Alison Hammond,” she said. “He is the man who got me back on TV, because there was a time that I wasn’t, in about 2007.”
Alison continued: “I started on This Morning and they weren’t using me then Martin came on board and he was like ‘why are we not using Alison Hammond’. He was the guy who made me the girl. So I’m really thankful to him. He’s a wonderful man. He’ll be sadly missed. We are all talking about it. Everyone is gutted, we all received an email yesterday. I’ve sent him a little message. He’s upset. It’s an emotional situation. He is very emotional.”
Announcing his exit, Martin said: “Next year I’m expecting my family priorities to change so I need to free up time for them. I love my team at ITV and will miss them and the thrill of live telly but it’s an always on, 24 hours a day, seven days a week commitment and I won’t be able to do both.”
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
He added: “It’s been a privilege to lead truly great presenters and producers, between us we’ve turned out more than six thousand hours of live topical telly, that’s around 20,000 items and whilst the gongs are always nice. I’m most proud of the change we made to so many lives, even saving a fair few with our campaigns on anti suicide, menopause, testicular cancer and ‘how – to’ items.
“This juggernaut is the toughest test for any broadcast journalist.” The TV boss is married to former GM:TV host Fiona Phillips, who shared her battle with Alzheimer’s at the age of 62 last year. This Morning’s ratings have dwindled following a a slew of scandals in recent years. The show’s longstanding presenter, Phillip Schofield left the programme last year before admitting to an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a younger colleague. Tension had been brewing behind the scenes as Phil allegedly refused to let co-star Holly Willoughby present This Morning alone for International Women’s Day.
After Phil left, there were allegations of a ‘toxic workplace’ on the daytime show, however, there was no finding of such a culture on This Morning an external review found in December last year. Just a few months after Phillip’s exit from the show, Holly also announced her departure. This year, Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard took over as the main hosts while Alison and Dermot O’Leary present Friday’s show.
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