Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan are one of British TV’s most iconic presenting duos – and spouses – but 37 years after they first fronted This Morning, their dynamic has shifted

They’re one of the UK’s most iconic pairings, but it’s unlikely we will ever see the Richard and Judy we know and love back on screens now they’ve gone “semi-detached”.

The duo fronted This Morning from 1988 until 2001, and then their own Channel 4 chat show Richard & Judy from 2001 to 2009, before embarking on separate professional commitments. Speaking to Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast, Richard Madeley, 69, and wife Judy Finnigan, 77, revealed that although their working relationship has evolved, their love is as strong as ever.

Judy told Greatest Hits radio presenter Kate: “We are incredibly close, we always have been.

“Obviously, I think working together for so long has bonded us more tightly than if we had two completely separate jobs.” She then explained that the magazine format of the shows they used to front gave both her and her husband of nearly 40 years an “instinct” they’ll never shake off.

She said: “I think the thing is, when you’re presenting a show like the kind that we presented, it’s very instinctive, you’re doing interviews all the time.

“By the time I decided I’d had enough, you and I were something completely different anyway, it just didn’t matter, it didn’t make any difference at all.

“When you go and do GMB, I’m still here in bed, I’m happy to stay when he gets up, it doesn’t make any difference at all to our relationship.”

Richard joined the Good Morning Britain panel in 2017 as a guest presenter before his appointment was made more permanent in 2022. He had also ‘gone solo’ to front Fortune: Million Pound Giveaway and Eye of the Storm.

Richard Madeley and his wife Judy Finnigan(Image: PA)

Richard told Kate that he understands that taking on these projects might make viewers wonder if there are cracks in his and Judy’s marriage. He said: “I can see that from the outside, it looks as if… as you say, we were bonded in our professional lives together and now we’re not, but actually, here on the inside, we still are.

“So we’re not actually as detached, I suppose we’re a bit semi-detached, but we’re not detached in the way that it might seem to outsiders.”

The couple have two children, Chloe, 37, and son Jack, 38. Richard is also step-father to Judy’s twins Dan and Tom, from her previous marriage to David Henshaw. The pair first met on Richard’s very first day working at Granada and they quickly became close, and have been together since 1986.

However, their initial workplace encounter did leave Richard more than a little bit stunned after his future wife introduced herself with a seriously cheeky nickname – “Mummy”.

Judy previously recalled: “I remember the first time I saw him. He walked into the newsroom and I was sitting at my desk at the other end.

Richard Madeley now presents GMB with Susanna Reid(Image: ITV)

“I remember exactly what he was wearing: a pale blue linen suit. I thought he looked nice. Tall, handsome and all that but I thought the suit was a bit flash. Then, because he was a newbie, I was assigned the job of looking after him.”

Richard – who had a crush on Judy after seeing her on TV – added: “I was sitting at my desk when this hand appeared on my shoulder and I looked up at this face and Judy said, ‘Hi, I’m your Mummy’ and I thought ‘What?’

“At Granada when someone new arrived, someone was appointed as their dad or their mum to show them round the canteen, the toilets and all that. So Judy was my ‘mum’.”

When they first met, both Richard and Judy were married to other people, and Richard admitted he had ten affairs during his six year marriage to Lynda Hooley, who he wed when he was just 21.

He said: “Although the marriage had some very happy moments, there was a lot of negativity in it. I’m not using that as an excuse. It’s wrong to have affairs, but I was a very young man.”

Richard was separated from Lynda when he met Judy, but became his future wife’s affair partner when they began a relationship behind fellow journalist David’s back. Richard knew from their third date that Judy – then 34 – was the woman for him, but she was concerned that the younger man – aged just 26 – wouldn’t be able to cope with being a stepdad to her sons.

She said: “I had to be absolutely convinced that Richard was mature enough and sure enough of his own mind that my boys weren’t going to be hurt. When we first got together I remember my mother said to him, ‘If you hurt those boys I’ll never forgive you’.”

It took Judy a year to make her mind up between her two beaus and Richard was over the moon when she finally chose him. The first thing they did as a couple was take the twins to Cornwall for a week, with the county becoming so special to them that they would end up living there years later. But sadly their bliss soon turned to tragedy when Judy’s first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage and she was forced to deliver their child.

The pair fronted This Morning from 1988 until the 2000s(Image: Mirror Online)

They went on to have two healthy children – and they’ve maintained their very healthy sex life. Speaking to the Mirror, Richard once said: “I think relationships can evolve to a point in old age where sex becomes less important – but I am 58, not 98.

“In most dynamic marriages, sex is a very important component. You can deny that at your peril. One of the reasons that most marriages fail is because there is a growing sexual incompatibility. It has to be an important part of the equation. Research shows most happily married people in their 70s and 80s still have a functioning sex life and so they should. It’s one of the most fundamental aspects of humanity.”

Both admit their’s is a ‘jealous, passionate’ relationship. “I think it’s incredible that I’ve been fortunate enough to meet the woman I love. I know happy marriages come in different shapes and guises but I like the fact we’re both possessive of one another,” Richard told The Mirror. “If Judy or I were to have an affair, it would be the end.”

She agreed: “I just can’t bear to think of it. We both think the other is the most precious thing in the world. A good marriage is a blessing.”

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/