This week’s proved it: The UK’s outgrown the need for insincere morning TV

If you tasked me to describe Kim Woodburn in one word, after recent events over the last couple of weeks my mind would settle on “oracle”. In the immortal words of “putting the phoney act on”, the queen of clean has popped up on all and sundry to rake Phil, Holly and This Morning across the coals. It really says a lot to me that out of all this fiasco, it’s an 81 year old cleaner from the TV who speaks most to young people most and who has the most honestly when it comes to calling it as she sees it. It’s been satisfying to see Kim get proved right as the news stories emerged over the last week – and why she relates to young people is because she’s not fake, she’s not patronising and she tells it like it is. Something that This Morning, and perhaps wider morning television in general, is incapable of unwilling to do. And that’s why I think we should axe This Morning and start anew – we’re over it.

It’s a long time coming

Cast your mind back to the days of yore, where the double act of Holly and Phil to many people of a certain demographic were a sidesplitting double act of morning telly endearment. These were the days where we’d be treated to the ‘comedy’ of Holly and Phil rolling around on the This Morning sofa, supposedly bevvied after not sleeping and getting too drunk at the NTAs. Here’s a reminder if you’ve not seen it for years or, like me, shoved it right out of your brain.

Before demand for an axe of the show, it was a Facebook comment section favourite – with mums up and down the nation praising Phil and Holly for being relatable for apparently turning up to This Morning drunk. I’d be more inclined to believe this if ITV didn’t try and replicate it every single year with diminishing believability. It’s this kind of nonsense that turns off younger viewers who see through it.

The crux of This Morning specifically is it’s meant to comfort us, to make us feel like we’re relaxin with these people who are the paradigm of purity and warmth. But as the years went on and the controversies racked up, what has happened over the last couple of weeks is just the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Young people have been over it for a while. Between the Boris Johnson selfie and the Spin the Wheel to win your energy bills fiascos, we’d had it. But the tides really turned when gen z, millennials and boomers all sang from the same furious hymn sheet – when Holly and Phil skipped the queue at the Queen’s funeral. Suddenly, all was not well and Holly and Phil were no longer paradigms of respect to the people who effectively keep them on that This Morning sofa.

In the words of Kerry Katona, ‘they’re full of sh*t’

I hate to bring more attention to a certain channel than needs to be drawn to, but I was very moved by some words said by Kerry Katona on how This Morning has made her feel, and how a potential axe could be the right thing to do.

Kerry says “For a long time I’ve not been able to watch ITV. It makes me cringe, I think they’re full of sh*t. I think they’re hypocritical and I think they’re condescending. This Morning for me, personally, triggers me anyway. I’ve worked really hard to turn my life around. The whole thing needs to go, it all needs revamping. The gods above who are the puppet masters they need their strings cutting. They need to bugger off and they need to get new people in. That’s what needs to happen.

“I know watching it, it’s bullsh*t. It’s all fake and false. I don’t want to sit at home and think they’re lying to me. We turn on the TV because we want to watch something relatable. We want realness. I don’t understand any of it. You don’t get this on Steph’s Packed Lunch. It needs to go, it really does.”

I think what Kerry makes here is a great point. She’s many things, but she is honest and she is real. Nothing about This Morning feels real. Over the last few weeks, they didn’t address a thing. They covered front page news whilst bypassing anything about Phillip. It’s the kind of show that, in my opinion, takes the public for fools.

Young people are not fools. Want anyone in a younger generation to tune into the future of daytime TV? Then axe This Morning, be real, be genuine and don’t think we’re as gullible as the generations who came before us.

@harrisonjbrock

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• From Rylan to Amanda Holden: Here’s what the ITV celebs have said about Phillip Schofield

• Eamonn Holmes has been dragging Phillip Schofield non-stop, so here’s everything he has said

• Inside Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield’s alleged fall out and everything we know so far