Judy Finnigan has hit out This Morning saying she will never return to the show that made her a household name as she thinks it has ‘changed’.

The 75-year-old broadcaster was a hit on the long-running ITV daytime series when she co-hosted it with husband Richard Madeley from 1988 until 2001. This year, the show was thrown into turmoil when a feud between hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby led to him quitting the series - with Schofield later quitting ITV completely after admitting to having an “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague behind the scenes of the show.

Holly stepped back from This Morning in October, telling fans she had made the decision to quit "for me and my family". In the weeks since, ITV has been scrambling to find new presenters to take over the series on a day-to-day basis - but Judy has ruled herself out of the running.

Ricahrd and Judy
Judy Finnigan and Richard Madeley presented This Morning from the late '80s until 2001

Speaking to Saga Magazine, the TV star said: "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. We'd interview people about books and you felt like there was some real interest there. I'm not sure there would be now."

She went on to talk about the "extraordinary disaster" for the show as Holly quit the show in October following Phillip’s explosive exit back in May. Judy added: "Phillip is not a close friend but he is a friend and I must admit I simply cannot understand why he had to go."

Schofield admitted to an "unwise but not illegal" relationship with a younger male colleague on May 26 and resigned from ITV. He had previously stepped down from This Morning on May 20 following a reported rift with Willoughby. He said at the time he was leaving so the show "can move forward to a bright future".

Judy also said: "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 ... We (Judy and Richard) were married and so supposed to be good friends. I just find the whole thing a great shame and incredibly upsetting."

To read the full article with Judy Finnigan in Saga Magazine's December issue head to Exceptional.com.