Richard and Judy is the name informally given to Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, a married couple who are both British television presenters and columnists. Since their marriage, their television appearances have been largely made as a couple. They are best known for presenting This Morning and later their daily cult chat show called Richard & Judy. On occasion they have also taken solo projects.
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They met in 1982 when they worked on separate programmes for Granada TV. At this time each was in their first marriage. The couple married in 1986 in Manchester. They have two children together, both born in Manchester: Jack Christopher (born 1986) and Chloe Susannah (born 1987).[1] Finnigan has twin sons - Dan and Tom (born 1977) - from her first marriage with journalist David Henshaw.
Their best known show was This Morning, which they hosted from its inception in 1988 until 2001. The series, a mix of celebrity interviews, household tips, cookery and phone-ins lasted approximately two hours each weekday morning on ITV. This live show set the standard for daytime fare in British television throughout the 1990s. It first aired in October 1988 and was broadcast from the Albert Dock in Liverpool, although production moved to London in 1996. They were so closely associated with the show, that many people referred to it by their names, Richard and Judy, rather than This Morning.
Since leaving, Madeley has appeared on the show by himself, publicising his autobiography, and the couple joined the show's current presenters, Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, on 5 October 2009, to celebrate its twenty first birthday.
In 2001, they quit This Morning, having been approached by Channel 4 to host a similar show, simply called Richard & Judy, shown for an hour in the early evenings.
The show was produced by Cactus TV, run by Jonathan Ross' brother Simon and his wife Amanda. In February 2007, the couple publicly apologised live on air due to the discovery of a TV quiz phone scam regarding the daily phone in You Say We Pay. On the same show, Madeley and Finnigan took the decision to suspend the daily quiz until further notice. Later that week, the news media confirmed that police investigations would be pursued, meaning the couple could be subject to a police interview. Channel 4 have admitted the scam may have been in force for two series of the show. Whilst Madeley and Finnigan urged callers to continue entering, it was confirmed that winners were picked in the first ten minutes of the show. The couple both deny being involved in the scam.[2] This scam was revealed by the Mail on Sunday newspaper after it was sold the story through media publicist Jonathan Hartley.
The TV show also launched two very successful "clubs", the Richard & Judy Book Club and the Richard & Judy Wine Club, both of which are similar in style to those used by Oprah Winfrey. The book club featured literature by new and unknown writers. One book was reviewed each week and the winner, named "Read of the Year," was announced at an awards ceremony.
In July 2008, Judy finally received a long-awaited knee operation and took a short leave of absence from the show in order to fully recuperate from the surgery. During this time Richard was joined by guest presenters Emma Bunton and Myleene Klass and even presented one edition of the show on his own (Wednesday 23 July 2008).
In 2008 it was announced that their Channel 4 series which began in June would be the last for the programme, which ended on 22 August 2008. However, they signed a contract for a new primetime show on UKTV's new channel, Watch. Their new show still contained popular features such as the "Book Club" and "Summer Read".
After seven years at Channel Four, Richard and Judy began hosting a topical prime-time chat show on UKTV's brand new digital channel, Watch. From 7 October 2008, "Richard and Judy’s New Position" showed week nights from 8pm. The show attracted very low viewing figures, with only 200,000 people for the first episode, and 53,000 for the second. Viewing figures since had consistently fallen, reaching new lows of just 11,000 viewers; their Channel 4 programme would see figures as high as 2.5 million.[3] Consequentially, on 8 May 2009 it was announced that the show would end in July, the presenters claiming in a statement that viewers "simply couldn't find us".[4]
Both co-wrote their autobiography, Richard and Judy: The Autobiography, in 2002, published by Hodder & Stoughton.
| Preceded by N/A |
Hosts of This Morning 1988–2001 |
Succeeded by Coleen Nolan and Twiggy |