grown-up glamour Breakfast tv’s Susanna, kate and Charlotte show us how it’s done
Good Morning Britain presenting trio Susanna Reid, Charlotte Hawkins and Kate Garraway talk to Nathalie Whittle about friendship, coping in a crisis – and what they really get up to when the cameras aren’t rolling…
Girl power is the phrase that springs to mind when you get Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid, Charlotte Hawkins and Kate Garraway in the same room. These are the women who are responsible for some of breakfast TV’s greatest eye-rolling moments (yes, we’re looking at you, Piers Morgan), its slickest live interviews (think everyone from Jeremy Corbyn to David Beckham), and some of the most watched (and watched again) off-script scenes.
With this formidable trio of women in charge, it’s no wonder the show now attracts over one million viewers, and is the UK’s most talked about breakfast show, making daily headlines from who wore what to who said what.
and that’s not to mention the fact that each of these three women juggles a job that sees them rise as early as 2am with the demands of family life; susanna is mum to sam,
15, Finn, 14, and Jack, 12, Charlotte to three-year-old Ella Rose, and Kate to Darcey, 11, and William, seven. but if there’s one thing we learnt at our cover shoot, it’s not simply that they’re as likeable as they appear on-screen, nor that Piers really does annoy them as much as it seems
– it’s that whatever life throws at them, these women have got each other’s backs. Girl power at its finest.
QIt’s amazing to have three 40-plus women at the helm of one of the UK’s biggest breakfast shows, how does it feel to be in that position?
Kate: the funny thing is, I don’t actually think of susanna and Charlotte as being 40-plus…
Charlotte: I know, it really shocked me when you said that!
Susanna: I’m really proud of it actually; times are changing, aren’t they, and God forbid that there was ever a time when women our age would be written off. the great thing is that we all have so much life experience that we can bring to the screen now; that’s one of the benefits of keeping on working through different stages of life, whatever job you’re in, isn’t it? Charlotte: I’m really proud to work on a programme where they’re not afraid to say, “let’s put three women on.” Gone are the days where you have a man and a woman fronting a show; that pattern is over for good, I hope. and viewers seem to really appreciate it too. Just recently, the three of us were on together and we were getting compared to the spice Girls without the scary one! It was hilarious. People like having that change.
Kate: It also means we’ve been through different stages of our lives together, which has been lovely. so many things have happened in the time we’ve worked together; my daughter Darcey has started school, while Charlotte has become a mum – and we’ve been able to say,
“What do I do about this?” or “that happened with mine.”
Charlotte: I loved being able to go to Kate and susanna for advice; it felt like I went through that journey of becoming a mum with them.
QIt looks as if you all have a lot of fun together on-screen, are you all as good friends as it appears? Kate: We’re all extremely good friends, aren’t we girls?
Susanna: I think one of the key things is that we trust each other. there are always stories about famous presenter partnerships where they appear to get along on-screen and they don’t off-screen, but if I’m honest, I don’t know how you’d make that work. Charlotte: you always see people on tV and wonder how different they’re going to be in real life; I definitely wondered that before we all came together to do Good Morning Britain, but we’ve had a laugh right from the start. this job can be incredibly stressful at times, so it’s important to know that people are there for you. Kate: and actually, I think it does show when you don’t get on, especially on a live show. besides, it’s very early in the morning and often you haven’t had a lot of sleep, so if we didn’t get on, it would pretty much be unbearable.
QHow do you deal with tiredness? Susanna: I get two hours of sleep in the afternoon and then I try to get to bed by 10pm, before the alarm goes off again at 3.45am.
Charlotte: My tactic is nutrition because I don’t really have time for an afternoon nap with a three-year-old. I try to pump myself full of nuts, seeds, avocado – anything I think is going to keep my energy levels up.
Kate: I just sort of plough on… and then collapse at the end of it all!
QWhat really goes on behind the scenes on the show? Susanna: I’ll tell you a secret. Kate gets in super early at 3am, while the rest of us are in at 4.30am. Charlotte: sometimes she goes straight in from a night out…
Kate: used to do that – not any more! Susanna: What are you doing for all that time, Kate?
Kate: I’ll tell you what it is. susanna and Charlotte do all their prep before bed, whereas I put the kids to bed, then phone in to chat to the producer, which we all have to do every night, then it’s 9.30pm and I think, “I’ll just go to sleep and do it all in the morning.” Susanna: We’re all juggling being working mums and it’s how you fit in all the prep with the fact that your children need you as well. It’s not easy.
Charlotte: I find it especially hard to keep up with all the new headlines throughout the day. It’s a battle for me when it’s 6pm and I’m watching the news and Ella Rose wants to watch Peppa Pig.
QTell us about some of your funniest moments together… Susanna: Kate keeps everyone amused by having her hair rollers in right until the last minute.
Kate: and sometimes beyond the last minute... when we’ve gone on air! Charlotte: Remember the “lemon Face Challenge”? the task was to suck on a lemon and then smile to raise awareness for those suffering with brain tumours, and we thought we’d pre-record it just before we went on air. let’s just say Kate’s dress got a little messy.
Kate: I had to do the quickest outfit change at the last minute and then guess what? they hadn’t even recorded it, so we had to do it all over again.
Susanna: there’s also the time my dress burst live on air because it was probably a size too small for me. Kate: oh it wasn’t!
Susanna: Kate’s phone has gone off on air before as well, hasn’t it?
Kate: that was really embarrassing. It was my mum ringing me to say, “I didn’t know you’d be working today.” Charlotte: I’ve managed to set siri off before too. ben [shephard] was asking a question and it said, “I’m sorry, I do not understand what you’re saying” – mortifying.
Kate: Hilarious!
QWhat are your tactics for dealing with Piers? Kate: susanna?
Susanna: let him have his say… and then point out where he’s wrong. Charlotte: both susanna and I do quite a lot of eye-rolling and I quite like that because you can make him think he’s running away with something and having his say, while the viewers can see our reaction and know what’s really going on.
Susanna: you’ve got the most brilliant thunder look, Charlotte.
Kate: It was even on twitter the other day! Can you do it now?
Charlotte: I don’t think I can do it on demand… I need to be really wound up! Piers is definitely the main recipient of it… though my husband did watch the other day and say, “oh, I’ve seen that look.” >>
“When the three of us were on recently we were getting compared to the Spice Girls… without the scary one!”