Holly Willoughby’s new show is all kinds of cringe – but it exposes a darker problem

It only took three seconds for Holly Willoughby to drop her first F-bomb on her new YouTube show. I cringed so hard I felt like I was going to shrivel up into a tiny prune.

I could see that Holly was trying to take an edgier approach to her TV comeback, complete with (bleeped) swearing that she wouldn’t be able to get away with on pre-watershed TV, and a dash of sexual innuendo to rein her dedicated This Morning fanbase back in.

Let me make this clear – I admire Holly as a presenter. It’s no mystery why she’s been a mainstay on our screens for two decades. 

She’s approachable, radiant and charismatic, and during her heyday with Phillip Schofield, they were unstoppable.

That video of them presenting the ITV show after pulling a drunken all-nighter at the NTAs is still hysterical, despite their exits from the show years later being shrouded in scandal amid speculation of a fractured former friendship.

As I watched Holly Willoughby Together, I could feel my concentration drifting from the start, despite Holly’s friendliness and her guest Stanley Tucci’s magnetism. 

The chat-and-cook homely format is just not my cup of tea, and I’ll never find it riveting. But she still has every right to make this show, and it’s fine not to enjoy it.

What it isn’t fine to do, is keep making exhausting comparisons to Meghan Markle. It’s boring, and I’m sick of it.

‘It’s giving the Meghan Sussex vibe,’ a YouTube user called Josh commented underneath the 50-minute video. An X account called Mydogismyboss quipped that Holly’s show ‘looks on track to mimic With Love, Meghan’, in reference to the Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix series.

The Telegraph’s one-star review of Holly Willoughby Together claimed that it ‘makes Meghan look good’, while The Guardian wrote in their three-star write-up that it was ‘a marginally less agonising With Love, Meghan’. 

I just don’t understand why Holly and Meghan have to be mentioned in the same breath. I hate to break it to you, but Meghan wasn’t the first to host an ‘at-home’ TV series, and Holly won’t be the last.

They also follow in the footsteps of other women such as Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson and Dame Prue Leith. Granted, Holly and Meghan are not professional culinary experts, but they both boast followings who enjoy this genre of light-hearted content.

Consciously or not, this feels like a clear attempt to needlessly pit two women against each other. It never seems to happen with the countless men who have the exact same podcast, spouting their views about politics, sport and pop culture.

You don’t see anyone coming for them with their pitchforks, claiming they’ve pinched someone else’s idea and don’t deserve to have their platforms.

For years, we’ve been surrounded by stories of real and alleged female celebrity rivalries that were steeped in sexism and misogyny. Jennifer Aniston vs Angelina Jolie. Britney Spears vs Christina Aguilera. Sharon Osbourne vs Dannii Minogue.

Fallouts among the Spice Girls. Ruth Langsford and Alison Hammond. The list goes on and on.

And now, Holly has dared to launch a new series that follows the likes of Sunday Brunch, James Martin’s Saturday Morning, and John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen. 

I agree that her show is a little dull, despite her whipping out the big guns of having The Devil Wears Prada actor and Negroni-maker extraordinaire Stanley Tucci as her first guest to show her how to make Italian courgette pasta known as Spaghetti alla Nerano. 

But the instant comparison to Meghan’s Netflix series was as boring as it was predictable.

When the Duchess of Sussex launched her lifestyle series With Love, Meghan on the streaming platform, the vitriol was immediate and grotesque. 

‘Why on earth did she feel compelled to put herself – and us – through this horror?’ The Spectator wrote in their blistering review at the time, which had the headline: ‘I’m warming to Meghan Markle – only joking.’ 

Meanwhile, Denise Zuizarreta wrote for LatinaMedia.Co: ‘Most people are watching With Love, Meghan and thinking, “Yeah, this is fine. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but why are critics acting like it’s a crime against humanity?”’.

I couldn’t agree more with the latter take, and I feel that the same applies to Holly now.

I watched the first episode of Holly’s new project, and it was fine. As I said earlier, I cringed at the forced swear words and clearly orchestrated innuendos – such as a phallic joke about a courgette – and I didn’t find it engaging. 

Nonetheless, there are plenty who happily disagree with me, and they have every right to.

‘Really enjoyed watching! Lovely to see you back, Holly,’ ZoJo commented on YouTube. ‘Great show. Loved it and looking forward to more,’ said Angela Dawson, while Collins added: ‘Love this! It’s chaotically delightful! I really enjoyed this episode! Looking forward to more!’

Clearly there’s an appetite for this series from her fans. Holly’s not making a groundbreaking discovery, or creating a series that’s never before been seen in the history of television. 

But she still deserves to carve her comeback in whatever way she sees fit, without the exasperating comparisons to another woman who’s been publicly ripped apart time and time again. 

Enough’s enough.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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