This Morning presenter Alison Hammond is moved to tears by her Christmas present from the team in scenes airing on the show’s festive special.
For the fourth year running, This Morning will air a special two-hour programme for Christmas Day, with Alison, Dermot O’Leary, Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle joined by show regulars including Gyles Brandreth, plus John Torode cooking up a festive storm in the ITV studio.
While exchanging gifts with one another in Monday’s (December 25) episode, Dermot asks Alison: “So, at the moment you’ve got the day off, but where are you performing panto right now?”
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“In Birmingham,” Alison answers, referring to her role in the Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime.
“Yeah, whereabouts?” he asks, to which she confirms the Birmingham Hippodrome.
“Well it’s a very special place for you and a lifelong dream that you’re performing there,” points out Dermot.
“So we took the liberty of doing something… Can we just take a look at this? So, we’ve named a seat ‘Alison Hammond, TV Queen and pantomime star’. That’s named after you in perpetuity forever.”
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Overwhelmed by the touching surprise, this causes the Great British Bake Off co-host to burst into tears.
“I’m so sorry I’m crying, you don’t understand what that would have meant to my mum,” reveals Hammond.
But that’s only part of the gift, as Dermot adds: “With that in mind, we know you used to go there with your mother so we’ve got the next seat along, we’ve just named it after your mother.
“We’ve talked about it many times that one of her favourite musicals was West Side Story so we’ve put ‘the most beautiful sound I ever heard, Maria’ on there.”
As Dermot hugs Alison, she tells him: “Thank you so much, that’s the best Christmas present I ever had.”
This Morning returns on Christmas Day (Monday, December 25) at 10am on ITV and ITVX. Further details about the Birmingham Hippodrome’s ‘name a seat’ scheme are available on its official website.
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