This Morning has remained on air throughout the coronavirus pandemic with social distancing measures in place. Holly Willoughby, 39, and Phillip Schofield’s show editor Martin Frizell, 61, has now opened up about the changes he made in the studio to ensure his staff are safe so they can continue keeping the nation entertained.
Presenters Holly and Phil and Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford have been keeping viewers up to date about the latest coronavirus news as well as keeping them entertained with segments such as Spin The Wheel.
But, staying on air meant Martin and his team had to take drastic measures to ensure they were all safe, which included setting up cameras in their homes in case they were not allowed to present from the studio.
He added: “If Holly and Phil are not there, you’d start to worry, like, ‘What’s going on? Why are they not there?’
“To stay on air, and quite rightly so, we had to take some dramatic measures to stay on air.
“80 per cent of my team are working from home. We’ve gone from five cameras to three cameras in the studio,” he explained on the Media Masters podcast.
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Martin went on to say he also made the decision to have no guests in the studio, which has been in place since March 23rd.
As well as this, This Morning presenters have been driving themselves into work and have been doing their own hair and make-up, to avoid contact with others.
He added: “I’ve seen Holly in her wardrobe, which is empty now, steaming her own dress.
“They drive themselves into work, so just cutting down [on] contact with anyone. They put their own microphones on.”
Martin added he also set up a working from home programme as a back-up plan, incase they were not allowed into the studio.
Martin added that the changes to the show during the difficult time has brought the team closer together.
“We’re more of a team now than we have ever been,” he added.
The ITV editor joined This Morning back in 2015 after working on Loose Women.
He took a break from going into the studio earlier this year after his wife Fiona Phillips suffered from coronavirus.