Holly Willoughby will be part of Joel Dommett’s presenting team for the National Television Awards, I can reveal.
It marks the first time Holly has taken to the stage since quitting This Morning in October 2023.
She left the ITV series after a plot to kidnap, rape, and murder her was revealed. Security guard Gavin Plumb, 37, was later jailed for life for the plan.
Holly’s departure from the daytime show after 14 years also followed a rocky few months after co-host Phillip Schofield left.
While Holly has since been back on TV, fronting Dancing On Ice alongside Stephen Mulhern, the NTAs will be a major return to the spotlight for the presenter who had slashed her workload.
She will be able to catch up with her pals from This Morning, including Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond, who is in the running for a gong in the TV Presenter category.
Host Joel, who helped out on This Morning over the summer, hailed the show’s presenting duo.
He said: “Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, they’re so good at it.
“Just watching them work makes me happy. They’re professional and brilliant and wonderful to watch.
“There’s certain people like Alison, who is incredible in an entirely different way.
“There’s something that she has that you can’t teach and you can’t bottle it.”
Elsewhere, the glamorous stars of hit Netflix show Selling Sunset have jetted in to present a gong.
Schoolkids who gave up their smartphones for three weeks will be the focus of a Channel 4 two-parter hosted by Emma and Matt Willis.
The 12 and 13-year-olds from the Stanway School in Colchester feature in a University of York study to see how teen behaviours change without phones.
The group will face cognitive tasks testing attention, reaction times, and memory during the 21 days, to see if it really does affect their brain function.
Swiped: The School That Banned Smartphones will also feature input from Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, expert scientists, campaigners, and politicians.
Emma and Matt said: “We’re intrigued by the results of the experiment and hope it can spark change and have a lasting and positive impact on everyone.”
A powerful documentary will give a harrowing glimpse of the Hamas attacks at the Nova Music Festival in Israel. Surviving October 7th: We Will Dance Again uses the testimony of survivors of the horror in the Negev desert. It will air on BBC Two and iPlayer on September 26 at 9pm.
He complained bitterly about the attention drawn to his famous “lunch box” during his athletics career.
But that doesn’t mean Linford Christie wasn’t tempted to cash in on it.
In fact, the former Olympic sprinter turned down offers to show it off to save his father any embarrassment.
He told Russell Howard on his Wonderbox podcast: “The strangest offers? I got loads to pose nude. I was thinking, the money was good.
“But my father always said: ‘If you do anything that will embarrass me, remember when I go to church on Sunday, I want to sit in the front row. I want to be able to walk in with my head held high.’
“So it was tempting, but I’d never do that.”
