Terry and Gaby (five): This Morning (ITV) : SINCE the heady days of Ann and Nick on breakfast TV, the morning schedules have been dominated by couples.

Now there are two vying for our attention - Philip Schofield and Fern Britton on This Morning and the unlikely pairing of Gaby Roslin and Terry Wogan on channel five. Following their success as presenters of Children In Need, channel five obviously thought it was a good idea to put these two together on a permanent basis.

There is definite chemistry between them, with Gaby innocently flirting with the silver-haired fox who is old enough to be her father, but somehow it just doesn't work.

The programme was the brainchild of Chris Evans, which could explain why his right hand drinking partner Danny Baker pops up throughout the show. His job is to answer those all-important questions that have been vexing the nation for years - like do birds have teeth and why did dinosaurs really die out?

Last time I saw this show, Johnny Ball was in this role, which was a really inspired choice. Viewers remembered him as the children's science presenter who helped make their homework exciting - so his appearance was a huge dose of educational nostalgia.

Sadly, Danny lacks this history and audience respect and just shouts a lot, telling us how fascinating his answers to the questions are - shouldn't we make our own minds up?

Yesterday's show began with the promise that it was going to be 'sexy' and Terry even came on with his flies undone to prove the point. Then the guests were announced - a lady who has travelled the country finding the sexiest landmarks and Iain Duncan Smith! Surely the programme makers should be prosecuted under the Trade Description Act - IDS? Sexy? Not even at that time in the morning. Terry and Gaby then went on to grill the former Tory leader about his views on Bush's visit, which tickled him so much he couldn't help grinning while discussing the possibility of the US president being shot.

The problem is the show exists in a very pink and fluffy bubble - talk of security did not lead to any mention of yesterday's bombings in Turkey or the invasion of Buckingham Palace by Fleet Street - so the whole thing looked like it existed in a parallel universe, untouched by the real world.

At least over on ITV, Fern and Philip continually referred to the breaking news and broke off their inane chatter for updates. It seems it doesn't matter how many pretenders there are to the crown, This Morning has been doing daytime TV too long to be beaten. It has the mix of celebrity and serious interviews just right, with links that can move you from cosmetic surgery to domestic violence in the blink of an eye. Yesterday's show also provided the biggest laugh of the day - Fern knocking a model off her feet to get to her shoes after discovering it was the only thing the waif was wearing that would fit her.

Published: 21/11/2003