Penny Smith presents her final GMTV bulletin

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Penny Smith presents her final GMTV bulletin
Penny Smith presents her final GMTV bulletin (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Penny Smith is bowing out of her GMTV job after 17 years on the sofa. A spokesman for the ITV show confirmed there will be 'surprises and old faces' in store for the 51-year-old throughout the morning. Penny joined the breakfast television show in April 1993 and has also written novels, produced yoga videos and shown what her singing skills have to offer on BBC reality show Just The Two Of Us. GMTV is undergoing a revamp and there have been months of speculation over the future of its presenters. Former The One Show host Adrian Chiles is joining the line-up as part of his new deal with ITV. John Stapleton has been given a new role covering breaking news stories as the show's first special correspondent. Penny's post-GMTV projects include a BBC Radio 2 opera show and her third novel. She said previously: "It's an ideal time for me to say goodbye to early mornings. "Now that the format has changed, I have taken the plunge and am moving on."

Patrick McLennan
Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.