ITV’s director of television has said it will be impossible to replace Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain following his headline-grabbing departure last month.
Kevin Lygo indicated the current affairs show will turn to its current presenting line-up, which includes Susanna Reid and Kate Garraway, to cover for Morgan in the short term.
The journalist and television presenter, 56, left GMB following a row over comments he made about the Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Mr Lygo told Deadline: “Piers is a special thing. You can’t replace somebody like him. There is nobody like Piers, for good or bad.
“We have a roster of presenters, including Ben (Shephard), Susanna (Reid), Charlotte (Hawkins) and Kate (Garraway).
“They’re all stepping up and doing a few more days than they would have done.
“We’ll mix and match until we feel what the right thing is to do. There isn’t a single person (who can replace him).”
Lygo joked he was “amazed” the former tabloid editor had remained on GMB for so long and said they had shared a “good innings”.
Half the world wanted Piers dead and half the world wanted a statue erected in his favour
He insisted relations between Morgan and ITV, which also broadcasts his Life Stories interview series, remain positive.
He said: “Half the world wanted Piers dead and half the world wanted a statue erected in his favour. You need to tread a diplomatic line.
“Piers felt he was doing the right thing, felt very strongly about it, and we just felt it wasn’t quite compatible with some of the things we’re involved with. It was an amicable split.”
Last month, Morgan used a five-page diarised article in the Mail on Sunday to attack cancel culture following his departure.
He took aim at the Duke Of Sussex for his part in a “disgraceful betrayal” of the Queen and said the fallout from his criticism of Meghan was “outrageous”.
ITV announced Morgan had left the show on the evening of March 9th, shortly after Ofcom said it had launched an investigation under its harm and offence rules.
It later emerged that Meghan had also made a formal complaint to Ofcom about the TV host after he said on-air that he “didn’t believe a word” of her interview with chat show host Winfrey.
