Celebrities

Fern Britton ‘Sacked from Show’ After Revealing Her True Thoughts About Colleague

Published on June 17, 2025

Fern Britton isn’t one to sugar-coat the truth, and she’s now opened up about how speaking her mind in TV land hasn’t always worked in her favor. The former This Morning presenter revealed she once lost a job almost overnight just for calling out a producer’s poor prep.

“I worked with a producer on a show years ago and she was giving me instructions that were utter nonsense,” Fern shared with 7 Days magazine from The i newspaper. “I went, ‘This is rubbish. This isn’t any kind of research. This is all wrong.’ Within a week I was off that show.”

And that’s far from the only time she’s been burned by the brutal world of television. In the mid-90s, Fern was presenting After Five when she gave birth to her first child. Battling post-natal depression and emotionally overwhelmed, she ended up in tears during an interview with a terminally ill guest — and was swiftly shown the door, reported the Manchester Evening News.

Fast forward to 2001, Fern had just welcomed her daughter Winnie and was working alongside John Leslie on This Morning. She said she was told to get back to work almost immediately after giving birth, or risk losing her place on the show altogether. “There’s no job for you,” she claims she was told, with no hint of compassion.

Eventually, Fern walked away from This Morning altogether — a show she said she truly “loved” — after years of behind-the-scenes tension, particularly with Phillip Schofield, who had taken over from Leslie. Rumours swirled that the departure was due to a pay gap, but she was quick to shut that down. “There was also a persistent rumour that I left because Phillip was being paid more than me and I always say to people, ‘Why would I leave a show to go to nothing if I was worried about money?’”

She still hasn’t fully revealed what tipped her over the edge, but in a past interview with Ray D’Arcy, Fern admitted something had happened off-camera that made her finally say “sod it”. “Something happened and I thought, ‘That’s it really,’ and I walked away and resigned. I was treated pretty poorly, actually.”

And it wasn’t just morning telly that left a bitter taste. When she took part in Strictly Come Dancing at 55, her time on the dancefloor was anything but sparkly. She claimed her pro partner Artem Chigvintsev had “kicked and shoved” her during training. “I remember once I burst into tears and sobbed that I wasn’t enjoying it,” she said. “Artem’s response was, ‘You’re rubbish, that’s why you’re not enjoying it,’ so I picked myself up and ploughed on.”

Now at 67 and living in Cornwall, Fern’s found peace far from the TV pressure cooker, enjoying a successful career as a best-selling author. But telly hasn’t seen the last of her just yet. She’s returning to ITV soon with a brand-new six-part series, Fern Britton: Inside the Vet’s.

Talking about the upcoming show, she said: “Every pet has their story and every owner has theirs, so I’m absolutely thrilled to be part of this new series for ITV. Animals have always been a huge love of mine… it’s full of heart, fascinating stories, and, of course, plenty of adorable animals – I can’t wait to share it with viewers!”

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