Holly TIME FOR CHANGE!

Is the star getting fed up of the double act?

- CHLOE THOMAS

There is a view said to be widely held by those at ITV that Holly and Phil are the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of daytime telly. A perfect pairing of foxiness and class that draws viewers to This Morning in their millions.

Late last year, Holly Willoughby, 41, confirmed that she had signed a bumper deal with ITV to remain on the show for the next two years, scuppering all speculation that she had been primed to leave.

But for all her on-screen cosiness with Phil, is Holly longing for bigger challenges?

Earlier this year, she was absent from This Morning while she filmed a new reality show for the BBC alongside comedian Lee Mack. Although Holly looked delighted to be reunited on the sofa again with Phil upon her return, her new-found freedom (part of the deal she struck when she signed to the channel for another two years) may well have given her the taste for flying solo.