It’s time to realise Holly Willoughby quitting This Morning isn’t a national emergency

After 14 years in the job, one queue-gate saga, and a whole investigation’s worth of co-star drama, Holly Willoughby announced she was through being This Morning’s presenter on Tuesday. “To everyone who has ever worked on the show over the years, thank you so so much,” she wrote in a farewell statement. “This is such a difficult goodbye, you are incredible and I forever will be proud of what we’ve done together.”

Our national response has been far from normal. Tributes poured in. “What will Holly Willoughby do now?” trended on Google for the last 24 hours. And Sky News even felt it was appropriate to interrupt a broadcast from Israel during the ongoing Palestinian conflict – where the death toll has reached more than 1,200 – to report the so-called breaking news.

Not Holly Willoughby's resignation being reported from a literal warzone pic.twitter.com/H5xtELVW1k

— Mark (@mrkphllps1) October 10, 2023

“Let’s get some news away from here now,” Mark Austin slowly read from Jerusalem. “Presenter Holly Willoughby has told ITV that she will not return to host This Morning.” Backdropped by bombs and shootings, the showbiz update felt mind-bogglingly small.

“Imagine reporting live from an active war zone and having to stop reporting on that for the ‘Breaking News’ that Holly Willoughby has left This Morning. Our country is a parody sometimes,” one person wrote on Twitter in response to the segment.

But, despite receiving the majority of the backlash, it’s not just Sky News who’ve gone hard on the Holly headlines. The Daily Mail’s splash this morning was a headline about the Israel-Palestinian conflict: “‘This was a holocaust pure and simple,” read the copy— alongside a red carpet shot of Holly on a parallel story.

Dear God, what has she done https://t.co/lgDe2qKW33

— Becky Paton (@rpaton11) October 10, 2023

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When This Morning aired their first episode without the presenter on Wednesday morning, the graphics emblazoned across the show’s opening imagery were brain-alteringly bizarre. “End of an era,” wrote one all-the-best message. “GOODBYE, HOLLY,” screamed the capped-up font. It was like an e-card you’d send at Christmas to somebody you hate.

I am truly mesmerised by the "Goodbye Holly" graphics in the opening titles of This Morning. The "family comes first" one has broken my brain forever pic.twitter.com/qeJYxsJRa7

— Sophie Hall (@SophLouiseHall) October 11, 2023

Holly Willoughby, fundamentally, has been part of morning television for the best part of two decades. Her departure is significant. The kidnapping plot, which pre-dated the decision, terrifying— But an ITV host resigning simply isn’t a national emergency and shouldn’t be treated as one. Collectively, we’ve had a humungous over-reaction. And with the world news pouring in from the Middle East, it could be time to gain some perspective.

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• Man arrested over plot to kidnap Holly Willoughby: Here’s what we know

Featured image credit Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock