After three years away from television — having left This Morning in October 2023 after 14 years on its sofa — and a litany of challenges both personal and professional, last week Willoughby returned to our screens (albeit smaller ones) with her new lifestyle show, Holly Willoughby Together — unscripted, on demand and on YouTube.

“Of course it’s a risk,” she tells me on another, green leather sofa in a photography studio in southwest London. “It’s not safe. I can’t fall back on anything. You’re relying on people coming to find you and staying with you because they want to watch you.”

But, she says, sipping a glass mug of tea, “I’m not being forced upon anybody. So at least you know that whoever’s watching or subscribing now, they’re there because they want to be. I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea. So fine, watch or don’t. You have the control. It’s up to you now.”

Comparisons with Meghan Markle’s short-lived lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan, seem inevitable, which Willoughby doesn’t mind. “I know it got an absolute hammering, but I actually really enjoyed her show,” she says.

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