Holly Willoughby misses start of This Morning for sweet family reason

With the festive season now in full swing (it is now December after all), many parents up and down the country will be welling up with pride as they watch their little cherubs in their school nativity play, and it seems that's no different for celebrity mum Holly Willoughby.

Holly, who presents ITV Daytime show This Morning with best friend Phillip Schofield, chose to miss part of today's (Thursday 1st December) episode in order to watch her son Chester's school nativity play.

At the beginning of the episode, Phillip told viewers: "You may notice that someone is missing. That’s because Holly is busy doing something that parents up and down the country can relate to."

Holly then appeared via a video link outside her son's school, where she explained her eight-year-old had been cast as Father Christmas in the play, which also featured a gingerbread man, and a character called Clarence the camel.

Although Holly's absence was explained at the start of the show, many viewers who tuned in late were quick to take to social media to ask about Holly's whereabouts.

One wrote: '@thismorning where’s Holly today?', with another adding: 'I missed the start of the episode, where is Holly today? Is she unwell?'. (sic)

With the nativity kicking off at 10.15am, Holly did reveal she expected to be back for the last part of Thursday's This Morning, and she returned to the sofa at 11.40pm, whilst Phillip was interviewing a contender for 'Britain's Ugliest Dog'.

Speaking about Chester's performance, Holly said: "It was the sweetest thing, there was all sorts of stuff going on", before revealing the plot of the school's nativity with a twist.

"He remembered all his words, he was very good, he was very clear, I could hear him at the back."

Check out where to watch all your favourite Christmas films below:

This Morning was taken off air for a number of days last week due to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

As ITV were showing Group Stage games at 10am and 1pm, the show didn't air between Tuesday-Thursday, leaving viewers gutted.

Of course, This Morning hasn't been the only show affected due to the football, soaps like EastEnders, Emmerdale and Coronation Street have all moved schedules, as well as Strictly Come Dancing, which is airing on Friday this week.

Meanwhile, This Morning fans will be pleased to know that Holly and Phillip will be back on Monday 5th November.

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• Holly Willoughby
• Phillip Schofield