This Morning legend Richard Madeley explains why he 'doesn't feel' like a television star
Richard Madeley "doesn't feel like" a television star.
The 68-year-old presenter became a household name alongside his wife Judy Finnigan, 76, when they began fronting 'This Morning' in 1989 and now he hosts ITV's breakfast show 'Good Morning Britain' on a rotational basis but admitted that at heart he is still the reporter who started off in local newspapers almost 50 yeas ago.
Speaking on ITV's 'Lorraine', he said: "I'm naturally curious as a person. People would define me as 'that bloke off the telly', a TV presenter, but I don't actually feel like that. I still feel like I did when I started. I'm a reporter. That's basically what I am, I started off on local newspapers, regional television as a reporter for 20 years and then Judy and I drifted into 'This Morning' and things softened a bit. Here, I'm still a hack and that's why I love doing 'GMB' because it's straight news. And I really enjoy working with the team that produces straight news, breaking stories and all that. I've never lost my enthusiasm for that."
Meanwhile, the former 'I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!' contestant has penned 'Father's Day' - a thriller novel that follows a man who has to bring up his daughter alone after his wife's tragic death - and explained that he was inspired to write the book after feeling a certain contempt towards perpetrators of crimes in real life.
He said: "I am completely against the death penalty, I hope it's never brought back and I'm sure it never will be. And if there was a vote on it, my X in the 'No' box would go through the paper.
"Having said that, we all watch the news and read the papers when there's been a horrible, sadistic crime that is cruel and utterly selfish where someone's life has been taken for the pleasure of the killer.
"The damage that does to the dead person's family is so horrendous that you're looking at the telly thinking 'Hanging is too good for you', although you don't mean it but it's there in the gut. Somewhere in our more primitive brain, we want revenge."
