The Truth About Richard And Judy (five): HAS Fred the former This Mornng weatherman been nobbled? I reckon someone has been round to his house and forecast he'd be hit by a stormy front if he spilled the beans.

It's the only explanation for him backing out of appearing on The Truth About Richard And Judy to reveal the couple's secrets.

The programme was, inevitably, anything but the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth because its subjects, their families and their exes - usually good for a juicy quote - didn't participate.

Fred was another absentee, one of several people nervous about going on camera to talk about Richard and Judy. "Contributors were hesitant about talking to us," the narrator alleged, and the pair themselves were unhappy about the programme being made.

So what we were offered was a re-hash of all the old stories about the pair. I can't imagine they were offended by being called "cultural icons" or the idea that daytime TV was never the same again after they made This Morning such a hit with viewers. But was Vanessa Feltz really right to claim that Richard and Judy have one of the most intriguing love relationships this country has to offer?

The Truth About... wondered how two regional news presenters had moved from being the king and queen of daytime TV to a £6.5m deal to work for Channel 4.

One thing's for sure - in the 16 years since they debuted on This Morning, an awful lot has happened to them, most of it shared with viewers; from Judy's operations to Richard's alleged shoplifting.

Watching a married couple work together can't help but be fascinating, especially when there's an older woman/younger man dynamic involved. All that sexual and psychological intimacy intrigues viewers, especially as the duo aren't shy about airing their personal problems in public.

Both have been married before but that was skipped over quickly. Richard and Judy's own book was much more forthcoming on this period of their lives. In fact, the programme was so stuck for original information that it resorted to quoting from their autobiography at several points.

The sofa wars with the BBC's Good Morning With Anne and Nick were recalled by producer Mike Hollingworth. That rival show was axed after two years, causing the words "sour" and "grapes" to spring to mind as he told of dirty tricks and Richard and Judy's reputation for being difficult.

This was equivalent to a good gossip rather than an in-depth investigation, as it portrayed the Richard and Judy story as a long-running reality show.

I'd have thought more would have been made of the latest clash with Paul O'Grady's new talk show on ITV1, which has been winning the ratings battle. Richard and Judy retaliated by threatening - nicely, I'm sure - prospective guests, telling them if they wanted to appear on their show they couldn't appear on O'Grady's. Perhaps Fred the weatherman was wise to keep his mouth shut.

Published: 20/01/2005