FERN Britton would ‘never say never’ to working with former This Morning
co-host Phillip Schofield again.
The 58-year-old presenter worked alongside the silver fox on the ITV daytime
show from 2002 until her departure in 2009.
Despite rumours circulating at the time that Fern quit the show after
discovering Phillip was earning three times more than her, the star insists
there is no bad blood between them and wouldn’t rule out sharing the screen
with him again.
She told The Sun Online: “It was great, Phillip and I did our five or six
years together and he is an extraordinary force.
“Something between us was like lighting the blue touch paper, it made us
laugh, and it was a great relationship and I really enjoyed it. Would we
want to recreate that? It’s had its time, but I don’t know, never say never.
“Do I miss it? I don’t because at that stage I’d done 30 years of live
television and I love it, I’m a live merchant and its great but you have to
leave the party before they’re fed up with you. You have to. 10 years, it
was great.”
Fern also co-hosted All Star Mr and Mrs with Phillip, but departed in 2010
leaving her co-star to host the show alone when it returned in 2012.
Meanwhile on This Morning, Holly Willoughby was brought in as Fern’s
replacement, but the star – who is now a successful novelist as well as
hosting daytime quiz show For What It’s Worth – has only good things to say
about her successor.
She said: “I’m very fond of Holly and she’s very, very good, and I think
she reflects a lot that’s good with the audience and that’s why they like
her, because she’s a normal working mum that happens to be very beautiful.”
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However, the 35-year-old faced
a backlash from some viewers earlier this year, after asking what they
considered to be stupid questions in the aftermath of the terrorist
attack in Brussels.
But Fern thinks the criticism is unkind, as while she may have more of a
journalistic background compared to Holly, she would have asked the same
sort of questions.
She said: “Sometimes I think as a woman, you do get slated for asking…I
was always told ‘ask the daft lads questions’.
“She’s not dim, Holly is not dim. She’s a great girl.”
Despite her fond memories of her time on the show, which also sees her husband
Phil Vickery act as one of the resident chefs, Fern has no desire to return
to live TV.
The star confessed she had been offered the main anchor role on panel show
Loose Women in the past, but had turned it down on a number of occasions.
She said: “I’ve often been asked to do Loose Women and even when it very
first started I was offered the main job, years and years ago, but it
doesn’t fit me properly.
“I think it’s a great show and enjoy going as a guest, and it’s a very,
very popular programme.
“I know the girls who do it and they’re very good at it, but I just don’t
think it would fit me.”
Reality TV is another genre which Fern has no interest in returning to after
her stint on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, where she was partnered with
Artem Chigvintsev before being voted off in week six.
She added: “I think Strictly was the best, and I really enjoyed it.
“Big Brother have asked and I’ve said no and I’m a Celeb have asked and
I’ve said no, I’d be useless at that. I’d lose my brains in three minutes.
Referencing Vanessa Feltz’s infamous meltdown on the first series of Celebrity
Big Brother back in 2001, she said: “I don’t think I’d be like Vanessa
Feltz but sometimes you just think, ‘life’s too short to put up with this!'”
Instead, Fern is happy to front For What It’s Worth, a quiz show which
combines general knowledge with an eye for antiques, something which Fern
admits she isn’t great at.
She said: “I know so little about antiques; I didn’t grow up with them or
anything.
“But for years I’ve always done a Christmas quiz in the kitchen at home
on Boxing Day for the kids and family members and so it’s like I’ve been
auditioning for it for years.”
- For What It’s Worth will air weekdays from Monday, May 23 at 2.15pm on BBC One.
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