Richard Madeley & Judy Finnigan Biography

Having married in 1986, the couple found fame fronting the Granada programme ‘This Morning’ in 1988, from Liverpool’s Albert Docks.

Madeley began his career as a journalist on local papers in Essex and east London, moving to BBC Radio Cumbria as a news producer and presenter. Finnigan was born and brought up in Manchester, and joined Granada as a researcher in 1971 and, in 1974, became Anglia Television's first female reporter. She rejoined Granada in 1980 and worked on a range of programmes including ’Flying Start’, ‘Granada Reports’ and ’Scramble’.

The magazine style show 'This Morning’ proved an instant success and eventually relocated to London in 1996. Attracting top celebrity guests, the show also caused controversy by featuring a group of nude guests from the Naturalist Foundation, conducting a testicular examination of a volunteer live on the show, and a televised gay wedding between two viewers.

A couple of lows points in the successful run saw Madeley arrested, and later acquitted, on charges of shoplifting champagne from Tesco in 1994, and Finnigan's three month ‘health’ break from the show in 1997. However, the couple bounced back – most notably at the National Television Awards when Finnigan's top came undone and she flashed her bra live on stage and to a television audience of millions!

The 13-year run of the show came to an end in 2001, when the couple announced they were to move to Channel 4. The lucrative deal with Channel 4 saw the couple move to a teatime slot.

Initial ratings were poor, but it wasn’t long before the new show began to pick up, thanks to high profile guests such as Hillary and Bill Clinton. The show became so successful that the couple signed on for a further three years with the channel to continue working on the series.

In November 2007, the couple revealed that they would be giving up their daytime show when their contract ends in 2008 to focus on other TV projects. They also confirmed plans to present another two series of their teatime show on Channel 4, as well as their two very successful TV "clubs", the Richard & Judy Book Club and the Richard & Judy Wine Club.

However in April 2008, the couple announced that they would be quitting their teatime slot on Channel 4 to host an hour-long "high octane" primetime show on the digital network UKTV.

The couple live with their two children in Hampstead, London.