Forget Dr Dishy, I want to save lives
PIERS Morgan has described him as a “pandemic pin-up” but Dr Hilary Jones hopes he’s just someone viewers can trust in these difficult times.
The doctor has been a TV doc since 1989 on TV-am, then GMTV, Daybreak and now Good Morning Britain.
Since Covid changed the world in March, Hilary has won acclaim not just for his ability to make sense of the rules and the science, but for his good looks, and has even been dubbed a “corona crush” with a cult following on social media. The 67-year-old father of five, who lives in Kent and is married to GMB’s fitness trainer, Dee Thresher, 50, takes his new nicknames in his stride.
He said: “It gives Piers a lot of pleasure calling me that and ‘Dr Dishy’ and teasing me about it. I’d actually call myself a ‘pandemic pensioner’. “What I do like is that people trust what I say. There are plenty of people out there with extreme views, based on ignorance and scaremongering, which can either be dangerous or ridiculously reassuring.
“My mission is really to put a sensible perspective on the whole thing and tell people what they need to do and how to go about their lives sensibly and safely.”
While on the telly Hilary can draw on 45 years as a GP working in a clinical practice. He feels most people are being careful enough – washing their hands, wearing PPE and keeping at the two metre recommended distance as well as sticking to the rules as they change.
He said: “People who’ve been shielding and older people have been responsible throughout. So are most young people.
“There’s a minority who want to deny the virus even exists and don’t care about the risk and aren’t particularly sympathetic about the knock-on effect to other people.
“In reality, it could impact on them if they lose their jobs because businesses go to the wall, they haven’t got money, and can’t socialise because of another strict lockdown. They need to urgently realise everyone needs to play their part.”
While Covid hasn’t touched us all, Hilary has direct experience of it because of his colleague Kate Garraway’s husband Derek Draper, who has “died” three times while battling the virus and is still in hospital.
Hilary insisted: “While he’s alive, there is hope. He didn’t really have any pre-existing conditions and he’s relatively young, so it just goes to prove it can happen to anybody and it can be quite severe.
“It’s really awful but she’s handled it very, very well.”
Hilary keeps active walking his dog and going to the gym. He said: “This is the biggest medical story in my career, and reporting and researching it is fascinating and a wonderful distraction from thinking about my own vulnerability.”