ITV schedules are being revamped following the axing of The Jeremy Kyle Show. Executives have agreed on a plan to extend other daytime shows rather than directly replace him. Insiders say £300,000 has been allocated to pay Phil and Holly for working the extra 30 minutes.
Their show This Morning will now go out on weekdays from 10am to 12.30pm instead of starting at 10.30.
The pair currently earn £600,000 each for their roles, after Holly’s pay was brought in line with her co-host’s in 2017.
ITV has been agonising over what to put in place of The Jeremy Kyle Show, its most popular daytime programme, which regularly attracted one million viewers.
It was ditched in May after the suicide of Steve Dymond, 63, in Portsmouth shortly after his appearance on the show in which he had failed a lie detector test.
The revamped daytime schedule will effectively airbrush Kyle out of existence, with ITV chiefs believing it is safer to give viewers more of the shows they already love than to insert a brand new series.
In other changes, Lorraine will shift by half an hour to start at the later time slot of 9am and Good Morning Britain will start half an hour later at 6.30am.
Kyle’s slot has been temporarily filled by various shows including Judge Rinder.
It was reported earlier this month that Scottish chat show host Craig Ferguson was to fill Kyle’s morning slot. But insiders say the story was wide of the mark. Production companies were asked to pitch ideas but ITV decided to “stick with what we know ITV viewers love”.
One insider said: “Nothing will ever rate as well as Kyle at that time, it’s just a fact.”
Earlier this year it was reported that bosses wanted to make ITV daytime more of a live event with presenters chatting to each other as they hand over from show to show.
The initial proposal, submitted to an ITV focus group, says the earlier helping of This Morning would feature “funny viewers’ letters and emails”.
It says: “From crying with laughter at naughty pictures innocent kids have drawn to recalling personal funny and relatable anecdotes, nothing is off limits as they talk about the stories and pictures of the day that have grabbed their attention.”
The proposal said: “The show would have more interaction between the end of each show and a smoother handover between presenters into the next show.
“Eg, Lorraine may chat with Phil and Holly to hand over each day.”
Phil and Holly are thought to be paid £1.7million for their various ITV roles, which includes co-hosting Dancing on Ice.