Judy Finnigan has said that she no longer watches This Morning, which she co-presented for 13 years, because it has turned into “a very different show”.

Finnigan described the departures of Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby this year as an “extraordinary disaster” and said she did not understand why Schofield had to go.

She and her husband, Richard Madeley, hosted the programme until 2001. During their time, they launched the Richard and Judy Book Club, but Finnigan suggested that the current crop of presenters do not have the same level of interest in literature.

She will not appear on the show to promote her new book, a romance novel called Roseland.

“For 13 years, Richard and I hosted This Morning but I will no longer watch it and won’t appear on there to talk about my book. This isn’t a protest. It’s just a very different show than it was when we were doing it,” Finnigan told Saga Magazine.

“We’d interview people about books and you felt there was some real interest there. I’m not sure there would be now.”

Referring to Schofield’s resignation in May following his admission of an “unwise but not illegal” relationship with a younger male colleague, Finnigan said: “Phillip is not a close friend but he is a friend and I must admit I simply cannot understand why he had to go.

“A lot of discussion has been had about why the show couldn’t work because Phillip and Holly weren’t good friends any more.

“I couldn’t understand what I always thought was this unhealthy obsession with Holly and Phillip being friends, therefore for the programme to work they had to be so close. Programmes and presenters don’t work like that.

“I just find the whole thing a great shame and incredibly upsetting.”

Willoughby left This Morning in October, saying she had taken the decision “for me and my family”.