The countdown has begun to find a replacement for Des Lynam after he quit the Channel 4 show blaming his unsurprising departure on his reluctance to leave his Chiswick home to film the popular daytime programme in Leeds.

Industry insiders are bemused at the hoo-ha surrounding the appointment of Lynam’s successor believing the show will survive regardless of its presenter because it is good.

But with seat of TV’s hottest chair still warm and Eamon Holmes already declining to sit in it, bets are being taken on who will be the next incumbent.

One thing’s for sure, the post will be filled with someone not as attached to their home comforts as Mr Lynam evidently is.

Rumours of the show's plans to move south to hold onto its Chiswick devotee were met with an online petition signed by more than 390 fans claiming that such a move would “deeply compromise many central tenets of the programme" and would be against the wishes of the show's original host and one time Chiswick resident Richard Whiteley, who died last year.  Any such plans have now been vetoed. 

Channel 4 said “We are keen to hear from everyone who is interested.”

 

October 5, 2006