ITV's This Morning faces backlash as sign of pre-recorded show is exposed
ITV's This Morning has come under fire before for seemingly presenting a pre-recorded show as live.
Speaking on The Rest is Entertainment podcast, journalist Marina Hyde recalled an episode of This Morning, where hosts Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield were caught out during a Christmas special.
Despite the episode being broadcast as if it was happening in real-time, sharp viewers noticed "tells" suggesting it had actually been recorded in advance.
Marina said the 2020 episode aired when London was under strict "Tier Three" COVID-19 restrictions, advising people to work from home.
Yet, during the show, passers-by were seen strolling past the studio windows, seemingly heading to work, reports the Express.
She said: "I remember in Covid actually, This Morning, and I don't know why they did this, just say it was a pre-record.
"They had a Christmas Day episode, it was Phil and Holly at the time and they were all dressed up, and they could just say it was pre-recorded because no one thinks you've come in on Christmas Day.
"But then there were people walking past all the windows on the way to work and also by that time, we were in something called the tier system, and London was moved into tier one, which meant you could not go to work, and there were all these tells.
"But the main tell is that, of course they haven't."
This Morning has often been critiqued for its tradition of airing a pre-recorded Christmas Day episode.
During the 2020 airing, a viewer pointed out on Twitter: "Why are #ThisMorning pretending that the show is live."
Another chimed in with: "Not live. You can tell by subtitles."
Richard Osman, Marina's podcast co-star, spilled the beans on TV secrets, saying "almost all TV shows are done in advance," and shared that his programme, House of Games, had already wrapped up filming for the rest of its 2024 episodes.
He divulged: "Almost all shows are done in advance. I've been in TV long enough we were always told don't have questions about the Queen Mother, that's how long I've been around.
"For shows like Countdown or Pointless, where you've got returning contestants and a storyline to follow, you've got to film everything in sequence."
