Holly Willoughby pours her heart out by reading carefully crafted statement written by ITV’s PR team

Holly Willoughby has said she felt “let down” as she made her first appearance on This Morning since her former co-presenter Phillip Schofield resigned over a relationship with a younger man.

She began with the words, “Right, deep breath,” and went on to say: “It feels very strange sitting here without Bill. Sorry, Phil. Guys can you move the auto-cue a bit closer please? I can’t read it.”

She acknowledged that viewers would be “full of questions,” adding: “You, me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt that they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. God, who wrote this rubbish?”

The show then carried on as normal, with the usual mix of special guests, music and a cooking segment.

As the show ended, Willoughby had a special personal message for the viewers, telling them “This is me speaking from the heart. We can find strength in each other and I’d like to thank you, our loyal viewers, for your steadfast and unwavering support. Oh come on guys, I don’t even know what two of those bloody words mean.”