Promising start for new Daybreak

Tony Blair uttered the famous line in 1997, “A new dawn has broken, has it not”, and that can easily applied to the first edition of the new Daybreak.

While it may be premature to think this new Daybreak, with a new team and a gold warming set may win back viewers lost two years ago, it has showed signs that ITV are back on track.

Two years ago this very day GMTV signed off for the last time leaving many thousands turning off and venting their anger online at the decision to introduce Daybreak. The vision of Daybreak was well placed, but it failed to engage with viewers who felt cheated by ITV for ditching their ‘beloved’ GMTV.

A few years down the line, ITV have revamped Daybreak and that new era was ushered in at 6.00am this morning with Matt Barbet and Ranvir Singh presenting what felt like the old Newshour.

The studio featured a curved red sofa, fake background with brickwork on the outer edges. This new look could have easily been mistaken as a GMTV re-launch. This is how the January 2009 change should have been for GMTV.

The decision to hire Matt and Ranvir, experienced news broadcasters is to claw back credibility that was lost when Christine and Adrian presented in 2010, best known for hosting a celebrity magazine show on BBC One.

At 7.00am, the key hour where many will be waking up and tuning in for the first time, were greeted by Lorraine Kelly and Aled Jones. Hiring Aled was an interesting choice, even more so by placing him with breakfast stalwart Lorraine. While some may cringe with their inane smiles, their friendship off screen has put any awkwardness that could have risen out of the window.

The competitions, which are said to generate a nice profit for ITV, have been cut down. This makes the programme flow much easier and does not clash with the news and topical items being covered on the show.

You can see that Daybreak is channelling elements from American breakfast shows, but whether that manages to capture the British audience remains to be seen. However, ITV are off to a good start.