Susanna Reid quits BBC for ITV as Daybreak is axed
- Published
BBC Breakfast presenter Susanna Reid has quit to join a new morning show that will replace Daybreak on ITV.
Reid joined BBC Breakfast in 2003 and became one of its main presenters when the show relocated to Salford in 2012.
But she will now move to ITV's Good Morning Britain when it launches later this year.
Her co-hosts will be Ben Shephard, Charlotte Hawkins and Sean Fletcher. Daybreak currently gets less than half the number of viewers of its BBC rival.
Daybreak's current main hosts are Lorraine Kelly and Aled Jones.
The ITV show has gone through a number of line-up changes since it launched in 2010 and has also had four editors since its inception.
Last year, Reid topped an online Radio Times poll, external to find the most popular breakfast TV presenter of all time and was a popular contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.
She will join Ben Shephard, who will return to ITV's breakfast time schedule after previously fronting Daybreak's predecessor GMTV.
Their co-presenters will be Charlotte Hawkins, who currently appears on Sky News' Sunrise, and Sean Fletcher, who has presented on BBC News and Sky Sports News.
Helen Warner, ITV's director of daytime programming, said: "Our overriding aim is to continue to improve our breakfast programming for our viewers and we have been working for some time behind the scenes developing the next chapter of our offering.
"Engaging, news driven content is our number one priority and will be at the heart of everything we do on Good Morning Britain. I believe we have a top team in place to deliver this and make this a compelling proposition to wake up to in the morning."
The name Good Morning Britain is being revived by ITV, more than two decades after it was last used. The original Good Morning Britain ran from 1983 to 1992.
Daybreak's Lorraine Kelly will now get her own programme, called Lorraine, from 08:30 every weekday. Aled Jones will present a new morning show on Saturdays and Sundays, to be titled Weekend.
Reid will not now return to BBC Breakfast.
The programme's other presenters, including Louise Minchin, Naga Munchetty and Sally Nugent, will cover for Reid until a permanent replacement is found.
"BBC Breakfast is a hugely successful programme and Susanna has been part of that," the show's editor Adam Bullimore said.
"We are sorry she's decided to leave and wish her the best for the future."
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