This Morning is a British daytime magazine programme that is broadcast on ITV. It debuted on 3 October, 1988 and is broadcast live every weekday from 10:00am to 12:30pm across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The programme features a variety of news, showbiz, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, home and garden, food, tech, live phone ins, competitions and more. The programme is broadcast on ITV1, STV or UTV (depending on ITV region) across the British Islands and on Virgin Media One in the Republic of Ireland. Catch up is available on ITVX and STV Player. The show was originally presented by husband and wife duo Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan for more than a decade after its launch. It is currently presented by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby from Monday to Thursday, with Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary on Fridays. The daytime programme has aired on ITV since its inception, making it one of the longest-running daytime programmes on British television. It regularly wins at the National Television Awards and the TV Choice Awards. History In 1988, ITV decided to create a live daytime morning programme and five regional ITV companies made pilot shows to bid for the national contract: Television South offered a show called Home Today, hosted by Andy Craig and Fern Britton. Thames Television Yorkshire Television Tyne Tees Television Granada Television offered a show called This Morning, and was awarded the national contract. The first episode of This Morning aired at 10:40 am on 3 October 1988 and finished at 12:10 pm, live from the Granada studio inside the Albert Dock in Liverpool. An industry insider believed the idea would not work and would be pulled by Christmas 1988, but despite This Morning being launched with no publicity, its ratings quickly rose to a daily average of two million viewers. In the first few series', the show's "experts" were weatherman Fred Talbot, agony aunt Denise Robertson, medic Dr Chris Steele, cook Susan Brookes, beauty presenter Liz Earle, hair and make-up artists Andrew and Liz Collinge, and wine expert Charles Metcalfe. The theme tune was by David Pringle, who also wrote opening music for Wheel of Fortune, Fun House and The Pyramid Game. To end the first series, in 1989, the show was presented via satellite from the United States at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Produced by Granada's Field Producer, Brian Thomas, the set was built directly in