O’Leary hails NTAs win for This Morning team which has ‘been through the mill’

This Morning presenter Dermot O’Leary said winning best daytime show at the National Television Awards (NTAs) was great for members of the team “who have had to endure an awful lot of shit” in recent years.

The ITV programme had previously enjoyed a 12-year winning streak, winning the category every year from 2011 to 2022, but had not taken home the award since until tonight.

The show was thrown into turmoil after long-term presenter Phillip Schofield admitted he had an affair with a young male worker at ITV, and had lied about it to bosses.

He agreed to step down in 2023 after his relationship with co-presenter Holly Willoughby was reported to have come under strain following the scandal.

The cast and crew of This Morning in the press room after the show won the daytime award at the National Television Awards (Ian West/PA). PA Media

Willoughby then left just a few months later, leaving the daytime programme without permanent hosts.

In 2024, it was announced that Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard would become the new faces of the programme, presenting it from Monday to Thursday, while O’Leary and Alison Hammond would do so on Fridays.

Speaking after the win was announced, O’Leary said: “There’s a team that have worked on the show since I’ve started who have had to endure an awful lot of shit.

“And they have turned up to work every day with the greatest grace and professionalism and uncertainly and they’ve never done anything but put their hearts and souls into this job.

“Two and a half hours of live telly every day is quite something, but to endure it under the spotlight of being on the front page of the news. This show holds a mirror up to Britain and it also tries to entertain.”

O’Leary said the team was thrilled to win, adding: “There’s never an arrogance about this.

“We’re genuinely humbled by it. It means an awful lot, especially for those people who have been through the mill.”

Shephard said he was “incredibly proud to make this show”.

“I think it’s really emotional because the team put such a huge amount of effort into making the show,” he added.

“Every day we make it, five days a week. Two and a half hours of telly is no small measure. There’s a team back at the office that are making the show for tomorrow morning.

“We get to do the bit at the front and make the most fun of it, but they’re the ones who do all the really hard work, so really this is for them.”