Eamonn Holmes resigns from Sky News role to pursue documentary projects
'There is an addiction to a live breaking news studio environment. However, after more than 3,000 hours of programming it is a habit I have to suppress,' says the veteran presenter
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Your support makes all the difference.Eamonn Holmes has announced he is leaving his position at Sky News in order to pursue documentary projects and take a break from the "addictive" news environment.
In a statement announcing his departure, the 56-year-old Northern Irish journalist, who has presented Sky News Sunrise for eleven years, said if he did not leave now he never would.
Holmes said it would be a struggle to say goodbye to waking up both Britain and the wider world and part ways with long-time colleagues on the show. He will now be presenting a range of documentary projects which he has been putting on hold for some time and continuing his work with ITV and Channel 5.
The presenter is one of morning television's best-known faces and has frequently been in the spotlight for his controversial interviews. This includes the time he was accused of patronising Jeremy Corbyn in a car crash interview and groping his wife and fellow presenter Ruth Langsford during a This Morning debate about whether public displays of affection go too. He also mistook a man for a woman in a 2009 Sky News interview.
Holmes presented GMTV for a total of twelve years until 2005 and co-hosted This Morning with his wife on Fridays and during school holidays.
“Anchoring my own breakfast show for 11 years has been for me the stuff of boyhood dreams,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “It was the job I hoped to do as a young Belfast lad - and because of Sky News I got there!”
“Forty-five years plus on I have other dreams, and to achieve them I realise that unfortunately, I need to step away from the daily studio commitment for a while,” he continued.
“There is an addiction to a live breaking news studio environment. However, after more than 3,000 hours of programming, it is a habit I have to suppress.”
He said Sky's Head of News, John Ryley, had been very understanding about his decision to leave and expressed great gratitude for the whole team’s support.
“New studios mean a wonderful chance for new ideas and a new approach with new presenters,” he concluded. “I hope they enjoy and respect the privilege of hosting Sunrise and waking up Britain and the world as much as I have. To those who have worked or woken up with me on Sky News over the years - thank you. I hope you appreciated that I tried to do it differently.”
Holmes left Ulster Television to join the BBC in 1986 and became a host in both TV news and lighter forms of entertainment. Holmes has presented coverage of everything from snooker to horse racing to being a judge on Blue Peter on CBBC and was widely tipped as a housemate for Celebrity Big Brother in 2016.
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