Richard and Judy sleep apart

IT’S impossible to imagine Richard and Judy apart, but television’s bestknown couple are, in fact, spending their nights in separate beds.

‘I sleep in the spare room,’ admits Richard Madeley, 61, who has been married to Judy Finnigan for 31 years.

Gaffe-prone Madeley, dubbed the real-life Alan Partridge, insists the arrangement is a temporary one while he deputises for Piers Morgan during a three-week stint on the Good Morning Britain sofa.

‘I think most people do who are married and presenting a morning show. My alarm goes off at 3.30am. That’s not fair, is it?’

Is there no chance of Judy, 69, joining him on the GMB sofa? ‘She’s pulled right back from telly,’ says Richard. ‘I still get a kick out of it, but Judy felt like she was done — you have to want to do it; it has to be fun.

‘She sees presenting as a bit of a chore now, having done it all those years. She’s focusing on being a novelist.’