This Morning return fails to impress despite Holly Willoughby's comeback

ITV viewers criticized Holly Willoughby's musical return to This Morning as 'peak cringe' amid the show's struggle for survival following the Phillip Schofield scandal.

The 42-year-old host, wearing polka dot dress, danced along to ABBA's Dancing Queen with the cast of Mamma Mia before embracing co-presenter Alison Hammond.

However, fans were unimpressed with what they saw as a forced display of camaraderie to mark the end of Holly's eight-week summer break in Portugal, with one remarking, 'It's too early for this cringefest!' Once a flagship show for ITV, This Morning's future is now uncertain after Schofield's departure in May due to his admission of an 'unwise but not illegal' affair with a younger colleague.

It has now emerged that the show has poached the boss of its rival Channel 4 daytime series Steph’s Packed Lunch as it awaits the results of an external investigation into complaints about the network’s toxic working culture.

Vivek Sharma has been hired from the lunchtime show hosted by Steph McGovern to work closely with under-fire This Morning editor Martin Frizell.

Producers will be desperate to recapture some of This Morning's pre-Schofield scandal magic, but reactions to today's opening scene suggest they are a long way off winning over viewers.

One wrote: 'If there's a more cringe inducing show than #ThisMorning I'd like to know.'

A second said: 'They couldn't have possibly opened the show worse than this' as another asked: 'What on earth is this fresh hell??'

Others branded it a 'cringefest' and 'peak cringe', while another wrote: 'I've had surgeries more enjoyable than this'.

But others came to Holly's defence and praised her return, with one person writing: 'Love these 2!!! Finally can enjoy this #thismorning again. Jealous trolls just stop.'