Dermot O’Leary is reportedly being lined up as a potential successor to Phillip Schofield on This Morning.
Dermot currently presents the show on Fridays with Alison Hammond.
But he could be set to front the show on a more regular basis should Phillip Schofield decide to step down.
“Bosses have been very impressed with Dermot and feel that if Phillip was to step down he would be a natural successor,” a source told The Sun newspaper. “There’s no suggestion Phillip is going anywhere, but those conversations have taken place.
“This Morning is a hugely popular show, and Phillip and Holly have proved themselves to be a winning presenting team, over and over again.
“But bosses must always look to the future, and they have quietly agreed Dermot would be the best person to step into Phillip’s shoes.”
Phillip has been hosting ITV’s This Morning for almost 20 years now, joined by Holly Willoughby since 2009.
He recently spoke about fronting the show during the pandemic, which has seen it’s best ratings in 19 years – over 10 million viewers tuned in during the first week of lockdown alone.
Phillip said: “It’s made me appreciate work and friendship. It’s also made me appreciate the small things in life that when we can get them all back,
“I don’t think I’ll ever take them for granted again – the fact that I could actually get in my car and drive to see my mum, go and see mates or have mates round. Those simple, simple things. I’m not even fussed about vast international holidays and things like that, I just want to sit in my garden with some mates.”
He continued: “It’s this sort of enormous shared experience and quite unique in telly terms. Certainly the way we chose to want to be there for our This Morning family, the viewers, was that we wouldn’t be hysterical, we would want to report in a sensible way, give it time, no knee jerk reactions – hold on a second, let’s just sit back and think about this. We’re all still here, we’re all okay, everything’s alright, we’ll be fine.”
This Morning airs weekdays from 10AM on ITV and on ITV Hub.
