TV presenter Richard Madeley has revealed his uncertainty about his future on Good Morning Britain after ITV “slashed budgets” in response to dwindling audiences.
Richard, 70, first joined GMB as a stand-in presenter back in 2017, before moving into a permanent rotating role in 2021. Show bosses then named him one of the programme’s lead hosts earlier this year.
The television personality, whose visit to one of the world’s most notorious prisons airs tonight (Wednesday, May 27), has openly expressed concerns about what lies ahead. Speaking on The Media Show on BBC Radio 4, Richard was asked whether he would consider following fellow presenter Piers Morgan in launching his own YouTube channel.
While he laughed off the idea as “too much like hard work,” he confessed to harbouring genuine worries about the future of traditional broadcasting.
He said: “I don’t know (if the TV he has worked in will survive into the future). It’s a bit like the last days of the Roman Empire now in television, and particularly in commercial television,” reports the Express.
View 3 ImagesRichard Madeley opened up on his GMB future(Image: ITV)
“I mean, the new DG was talking about the funding cuts he’s going to have to make, that’s what’s happened on GMB and daytime television on ITV.
“Our budgets have been slashed because the audiences have shrunk. So I don’t know, I may not be in this position in a year or two from now, but I hope I am.”
Last year ITV revealed sweeping redundancies and financial reductions across its daytime programming, affecting Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, Loose Women and This Morning. The cutbacks at ITV Studios, which produces all four programmes, meant over 220 of 440 employees faced potential redundancy.
When asked whether he might launch his own YouTube channel, he quipped: “Oh, it’s too much like hard work. No, I’m an old-fashioned geezer. I’m very happy just getting in a car, toddling down to work, doing the job and going home and having a bacon butty. I’m not really interested in buying a business.”
View 3 ImagesRichard Madeley went into an El Salvador prison(Image: Channel 5)
In an unexpected departure for Richard, he travelled to CECOT, a maximum security facility in El Salvador. As Latin America’s largest prison, it’s believed to house between 15,000 and 20,000 prisoners.
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Richard speaks with inmates enduring one of the world’s most stringent penal systems while also interviewing the officers tasked with operating the facility around the clock.
The broadcaster reflected: “What struck me straight away was the sheer scale of it, and the stories behind it. In meeting the people who run the prison and those living inside it, what unfolds is a fascinating and often surprising look at justice, security and the human realities behind the headlines. It’s been a remarkable experience.”
Watch Richard Madeley: Inside the World’s Mega Prison on Channel 5 tonight from 9pm to 10.30pm.