BBC bosses are ramping up their ratings battle with ITV by bringing TV legend Penny Smith back to their flagship daytime show, Morning Live. At 67, Penny delighted viewers with her return, presenting a special segment investigating the chaos faced by travelers caught up in the EU’s new fingerprint scanners — a story that left audiences hooked.
On the ground at Manchester Airport, Penny spoke with passengers and met a young woman who missed her flight amid the disruption. She also conducted hands-on experiments with different substances on the scanners, from water to alcohol wipes, showing her signature investigative flair — and revealing how results varied in surprising ways.
A source said: “Penny is hugely talented, experienced, and much-loved from her ITV days. Bringing her to Morning Live was a brilliant move — we could easily see her appearing more regularly.”
Fans took to social media to express their delight. One wrote: “Can we please see more of Penny Smith on Morning Live?” Another added: “Great to see Penny back on TV!”
Penny’s career spans decades: she started as a reporter for the Peterborough Evening Telegraph in 1977, helped launch Sky News in 1989, and joined GMTV in 1993, remaining until 2010. She has hosted radio shows on BBC London, Talk Radio, and Magic Classical, and appeared on Have I Got News for You, Just the Two of Us, and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
Morning Live, hosted by Helen Skelton and Gethin Jones, consistently beats ITV’s This Morning, drawing over a million viewers daily. The show’s expansion from 45 to 75 minutes in 2024 has helped cement its ratings success, especially after the departures of Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield and the arrival of new hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard.
While Morning Live hasn’t fully overtaken its ITV rival, the strategic return of Penny Smith and leadership from editor Emma Morris — a former ITV producer — makes it clear the BBC is determined to dominate daytime television.
Source: Daily Mail
