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WISH YOU WERE HERE
ITV plotting to lure Amanda Holden and Alan Carr away from BBC to recreate success of Italian Job travel show
Is Amanda a modern-day Judith Chalmers?
ITV bosses are eyeing up Amanda Holden and Alan Carr for a similar holiday programme to their hit BBC travel show.
They believe the Britain’s Got Talent judge and her comedian chum can recreate the huge success of Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job, where they help renovate properties around the Med.
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Alan, 48, and Amanda, 53, have recently filmed a third series in Spain.
But they could be offered a lucrative deal on ITV — former home of Wish You Were Here . . ?, the long-running holiday show first hosted by Judith Chalmers in 1974.
A TV insider said: “You’re talking about a potential 21st-century version of Wish You Were Here…?.
“Which is ironic because Alan has joked that Amanda — who’s often pictured holidaying in a luxurious foreign resort — is a modern-day Judith Chalmers.
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“But in recent years many of her journeys abroad have been with Alan by her side, and their friendship has grown deeper while making the three series of the Mediterranean travel shows.
“The duo are even on holiday together now in Greece and the most recent video of them messing around in the Med has been watched eight million times.
“That just goes to show their pairing is a winning combination — she brings the glamour, he brings the giggles.”
ITV have signalled how much they admire the pair by hiring them to host the Royal Variety Performance in November.
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Alan could also be invited to be a stand-in judge alongside Amanda on BGT in October, when regular Bruno Tonioli may be away in the US for Dancing with the Stars.
Amanda is viewed by ITV as a home-grown star after appearing on drama Wild at Heart in 2006, before becoming a BGT judge.
Amanda Holden, 53, looks stunning as she strips off to barely-there bikini to sunbathe in Italy
But in recent years she has been doing increasing amounts of work with the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky.
Meanwhile, Alan has similarly flitted between networks after fronting his Chatty Man chat show on Channel 4 from 2009 to 2017.
He made two series of his autobiographical drama Changing Ends for ITV as well as gameshow Picture Slam and Interior Design Masters, both for BBC One.
Series one of Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job, which was filmed in Sicily, aired in 2023, while the sequel, made in Tuscany, was released earlier this year.
Amanda & Alan’s Spanish Job, set in Andalucia, is expected to go out later this year or early in 2025.
ITV declined to comment.
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