Daybreak to move home to new studio

ITV’s much-maligned breakfast programme Daybreak is to move home to a new studio.

Broadcast reports that Daybreak will move from its current studio in the ITV London Studios complex in a change which will see it share its set with sister programme Lorraine. When Daybreak launched, with Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles, much was made of the studio’s view of the River Thames – allowing viewers a glimpse of London at daybreak.

Unfortunately seemingly no one had thought about what the view would be like during the Winter – when the mornings were much darker. ITV reportedly asked that St Paul’s Cathedral be floodlit for three extra hours each weekday to ease the problem of the dark view across London during the Winter.

The move to new studios within ITV’s production complex in London will also, reports Broadcast, signal a revamp of the sets once more with ‘warmer reds and orange’ added – further reverting Daybreak back into its GMTV predecessor’s style and format. So far ITV’s attempts to boost their flagging breakfast ratings have had little or no effect despite the high profile departures of Bleakley and Chiles.

The Daybreak studio, from 1993 until 2004, was used for local news programming, notably evening magazine series London Tonight.

The ITV Studios in London. Opened by defunct broadcaster LWT in 1972.