Band of mothers! Morning Live returns this week with Kym Marsh, Sam Quek and Kimberley Walsh

Oh to be a member of the WhatsApp group set up by the presenters on Morning Live, the BBC show that’s already overtaken ITV rival Lorraine in the daytime viewing stakes.

‘The whole team are on it, and there’s lots of banter,’ reveals former Coronation Street actress Kym Marsh, one of the show’s original presenters.

‘It’s literally pinging all day long,’ adds Kimberley Walsh, well known as one fifth of Girls Aloud but recently announced as a new permanent presenter on Morning Live. 

‘It’s very funny as well as being the most useful WhatsApp group you could ever wish for because it’s full of every expert from the show who can answer every question you’ve got – a chef, all the doctors, DIY, gardening…’

Of course, that’s one of Morning Live’s selling points, and since its launch in October 2020 it has certainly proved a hit with viewers, consistently pulling in around 1.2 million viewers a day across the week.

Kym and Gethin Jones were the two original presenters, but when she took an extended break last year, she was replaced by a rotating team of stand-ins including Kimberley and former England hockey player Sam Quek.

When the show returns this week from one of its regular scheduled breaks, Kimberley and Sam will become part of an expanded line-up of permanent presenters along with Sara Cox.

Gethin will host every day while the ladies will pair with him alternately, and the whole shebang will be broadcast from a shiny new base in Manchester.

In fact, with Bradford-born Kimberley, Liverpudlian Sam and Boltonian Sara completing the female line-up with Kym, who’s also from Liverpool, it feels like quite the northern powerhouse – one that leaves Cardiff-born Gethin as rather the odd one out, although no doubt he can fight his corner.

‘When I first started on the show last year, he was amazing at showing me the ropes, but as we became good friends I soon realised how cheeky and naughty he is,’ says Sam.

‘Often it just takes a look from one of us and the other is falling about laughing. But we all take the mickey out of him the most, especially how seriously he takes the Strictly Fitness segment at the end of the show.’

Kym agrees, saying, ‘Gethin’s really great at the job, huge fun, but he’s a real wind-up merchant too. I used to tell him he was like an annoying little brother.’

Morning Live is moving to Manchester, with the presenter line-up including (from left to right) Kym Walsh, Sam Quek, Gethin Jones, Kimberley Walsh, Sara Cox and Rav Wilding

Of course, as one of the launch presenters, Kym, 45, is a veritable old hand now, although she says she doesn’t always feel like it. 

‘Obviously I wasn’t really used to doing live presenting before, so when I started I was terrified,’ she says of her debut.

‘I’m still frightened now, although I feel like if I hadn’t had Gethin by my side I may not have learnt as much as I have. But the big thing for me was that I always felt really supported, and I still do.’

Morning Live burst onto our screens during the dark days of Covid, amid varying lockdowns and ‘tier’ rules across the country.

Kym and Gethin initially had to sit a socially distanced two metres apart during filming and for months were unable to socialise before or after the show.

It was ‘a weird time’, Kym says now, but one that she thinks helped forge a bond between the presenters and viewers.

‘I felt like we were all holding each other’s hands, like we were all in each other’s living rooms having a cup of tea together,’ she recalls. ‘It was warm and friendly. I think it’s what people needed at that time.’

Kym’s hosting role certainly seems to have cemented her as a viewers’ favourite, as well as adding a new skill to a busy CV that already includes pop star (she was part of Hear’Say, the group created on TV talent show Popstars) and actress (her 13-year stint as Coronation Street’s Michelle Connor ended in 2019 and she’s about to join the cast of Waterloo Road).

‘My mum laughs and calls me a jack of all trades, which is quite funny as I always have to remind her that the saying is jack of all trades, master of none, so it’s less of a compliment than she thinks,’ she says with a smile.

Domestically she’s contented too: the mum-of-three got married for the third time recently, to Scott Ratcliff, a major in the Parachute Regiment. She beams as she talks about her honeymoon in Grenada.

‘We’ve only been married four months and it’s been wonderful,’ says Kym. ‘I’m very lucky to be Mrs Ratcliff, and I’m having the time of my life.’

Her two new co-presenters are navigating fresh life stages too. Already mum to 11-month-old Molly with property entrepreneur husband Tom Mairs, Sam announced in October that she’s expecting the couple’s second child, while Kimberley became a mother for the third time last May with baby Nate.

She and her ex-boyband singer husband Justin Scott also have two other boys – Bobby, seven, and Cole, five.

‘It’s actually been easier than I thought it would be,’ says Kimberley of becoming officially ‘outnumbered’.

Kimberley Walsh, pictured with her three sons, who along with Sara Cox is based in the south, plans to do a once-a-week commute to Manchester to fulfil her presenting obligations, complete with an overnight stay

‘I think the jump from one to two was harder, but now the two older boys are so helpful, they’re like proper little nannies.

‘In fact, the nicest thing for me third time round is seeing that whole baby stage through their eyes because they get so excited about anything he does and all those little milestones.’

Talking of milestones, Kimberley passed one herself recently, turning 40 last November, which she celebrated with a party in her garden with close family and friends. ‘Basically, I put a club in my garden,’ she laughs.

‘I knew that the baby was a bit too young to leave and to be honest I wouldn’t have been able to relax. I’m quite soft like that.’

It seems amazing that one of our original girl band members has entered her fifth decade, although Kimberley says she was largely unfazed.

‘Actually, it hit me a bit more afterwards, not in the way of, ‘Oh, I’m so old,’ but just in the sense that it felt like a milestone that should be appreciated, that I’m here, we’re all happy and healthy, and everything is good,’ she says. 

‘And that came out of nowhere.’

No doubt the tragic death of her former Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah Harding at just 39 last September played its part, and while she doesn’t want to talk about that today, it’s clear that Kimberley has been in reflective mood.

‘I worked out the other day that I joined the band when I was 20, I did my first leading lady role in the West End when I was 30, and now I’ve got this new presenting role at 40, so each decade seems to bring me a new challenge,’ she says. ‘I do feel incredibly lucky.’

Given that Nate is still a baby, Kimberley, who along with Sara Cox is based in the south, plans to do a once-a-week commute to Manchester to fulfil her presenting obligations, complete with an overnight stay.

‘It’ll be nice to have a little jaunt up north every week,’ she smiles. ‘It does sometimes feel like going to work is the only social life we have.’

It’s a sentiment shared by Sam, 33, who says she and Kimberley have bonded over babies – and while she will happily say her ‘main job’ is being a mum, she never wanted that to be her only one.

‘I never wanted to give up work completely and I do think women nowadays can have it all – it’s just about finding the right balance,’ she says.

‘My husband is very supportive and is very much a ‘modern dad’. He likes to take care of the children as much as me.’

Which is just as well, given Sam is so much in demand: last year she became the first woman team captain on the BBC’s revamped Question Of Sport, and she was a key part of the presenting line-up for last summer’s BBC Olympic coverage alongside Dan Walker.

‘We were presenting live for almost four hours a day and had to keep track of over 11,000 athletes across 30-plus sports,’ she says.

‘It was the toughest job I’ve ever had, but I loved it and it was a real learning experience.’

It’s certainly good preparation for the pitfalls of live daytime television, although Sam says that as she’s naturally resourceful, she’s not too worried… except for one thing. ‘Some of the things we cover can be very serious.

‘Now, especially as a mother, I relate to those stories a lot and I worry I could get choked up or a bit emotional,’ she confides.

She needn’t worry if she does, according to Kym. ‘It really is one big team,’ she says. ‘Someone’s always got your back. That’s exactly how I feel working on the show.’ 

Morning Live broadcasts from Manchester for the first time on Monday. Watch it weekdays at 9.15am on BBC1.