Ed Balls and Susanna Reid were abruptly pulled off air as they hosted Good Morning Britain (Image: ITV)
The latest edition of ITV‘s flagship breakfast show Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, March 25, was abruptly pulled off air to cut to a promo for This Morning. The unexpected cut came as hosts Ed Balls and Susanna Reid interviewed former Love Island star Jack Fincham about his addiction struggles. In the middle of his discussion, the show simply went to This Morning hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, telling viewers what was coming up after the adverts with no explanation offered although shephnerd did intimate the studio were having wifi issues.
Shortly before that, the show was slammed online for a “car crash” interview with Barry Tomes, the publicist for disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards. He appeared on the show to defend Edwards following the broadcast of the first episode of 5 drama, Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards on Tuesday, March 24. Outraged viewers took to X to vent about the chat, with one person commenting: “I’ve just witnessed a car crash.”
Another added: “The Interview with Barry Tomes, the so-called ‘unpaid publicist’ of convicted paedophile Huw Edwards, was just bizarre. Really bizarre.” A third shared: “This is a car crash. Baz is having a nightmare here, but I don’t think he realises.”
A fourth chimed in: “Well this is a car crash and surely career suicide for this publicist? Huw Edwards is a convicted paedophile, why are you on TV defending him? #GMB.”
A fifth veiwer opined: “Re: Huw Edwards publicist. Weird hill to die on dude #gmb,”
However, Tomes did have some defenders. One viewer took to the social media site to write: “Deep Breaths Susanna, but we must understand horrific things if we want to prevent them. I know you do! Publicist fellow not defending crimes, wishing to understand why
Huw Edwards publicist defended the disgraced star during an appearance on GMB (Image: ITV)
The publicist sparked outrage as he said Edwards shouldn’t return his £200,000 salary which was paid by the BBC after his suspension from the braodcaster.
After Reid asked whether he was planning to return the wage paid for by British taxpayers he responded: “I wouldn’t pay it back.
“He had a contract, his contract was terminated, and he was paid. If they think they should have it back, have they started legal proceedings? I’m not sure, but I personally wouldn’t, no.”
The Welsh journalist admitted three charges of making indecent images of children and received a six-month suspended sentence in September 2024. He was put on the sex offenders’ register for seven years and ordered to complete a sex offender treatment programme.
