Cat Deeley has been busy learning that dance routine from the opening credits of Netflix’s The Perfect Couple. Not for her own amusement, but because one of the stars of the series, Sam Nivola (Will), is a guest on This Morning the following day. ‘He’s only just confirmed,’ she says, pulling out her production notes to check tomorrow’s running order. The short-notice dance routine is the perfect example of her favourite thing about the show. ‘You never know what’s happening next.’
After a year of well-charted controversy, This Morning needed a reassuring, reliable pro. Enter Deeley, who has achieved what few others have managed: a presenting career that has seen her consistently on TV screens in both the UK and US for more than 20 years. No mean feat.
We meet at a restaurant outside Television Centre in London, where she apologises if she smells ‘garlicky’, as she and her co-host Ben Shephard sampled Phil Vickery’s meatballs during a cookery segment on the show. She doesn’t smell of meatballs, actually. After all, she is the founder of e11even fragrance oil – a staple in Sienna Miller’s handbag.
While she’s still the Brummie who we remember larking around with Ant and Dec on SMTV Live, Deeley radiates a Hollywood glow, having lived in LA for 12 years, hosting So You Think You Can Dance. Wearing a black Anine Bing top over Stella McCartney trousers with an Isabel Marant bag, she’s the perfect-for-TV mix of relatability and aspiration.
She has thrown herself fully into one of the most high-profile jobs in British TV. Every night she has ‘homework’, which might be a show to catch up on, a book to skim, or research into new legislation. ‘I’m very square and I do all my prep,’ she says. ‘And then I can relax. I’m 47 and I’ve been doing this for a long time. So I know that, if I put the work in, when it comes to the show I’m completely in the moment.’
Deeley spent her twenties doing three hours of live TV every weekend for eight years. SMTV, followed by CD:UK, was the background to every Millennial’s first hangover. She went on to host Fame Academy in 2002, with now-husband Patrick Kielty. After being friends for a decade, a whirlwind transatlantic romance led to their wedding in 2012. They now have two sons, Milo, eight, and James, six.
She was just 21 when she landed SMTV and insists she was ‘terrible’. But it was a very different era – she could learn as she went along and every gaff was not picked up and pored over. ‘I don’t know if I’d have survived that,’ she says with a shudder. Despite being a seasoned pro, This Morning brings a whole new level of scrutiny. She says she doesn’t spend any time worrying about what the trolls are saying on social media. ‘It’s never been a big part of my life,’ she shrugs. ‘I don’t think it’s entirely healthy, particularly for young people. If you start to worry about what everybody else thinks, it breeds this inertia where you’re frightened to do anything in case you don’t get it right.’
She hasn’t been given any tips by previous hosts. Holly Willoughby ‘sent some lovely flowers’ to say congratulations, and they saw each other recently at the National Television Awards. ‘Holly was rushing one way and I was running the other, we both had our gowns hitched up and we were like [she mimes delighted air-kissing].’ As for other former This Morning hosts, ‘I have seen Richard Madeley in my local M&S actually,’ she grins. ‘But he didn’t give me any tips, other than: the salmon is good!’
Joking aside, the arrest of a stalker who plotted to kidnap Willoughby must have been unnerving for the woman who has stepped into her job. ‘I don’t feel particularly vulnerable,’ says Deeley. ‘And I’d always think about my own mental health. If something was affecting me, or I hated going into work, I’d walk away. It’s more important that I enjoy what I do.’
Over the last few years, there have been rumours of a toxic working culture on the show. ‘Well, obviously Ben and I had heard all of those stories,’ she nods. ‘I can only speak as I find it, and I have no idea what happened before we were there, but I haven’t seen one scrap of it.’
As much as she loves doing the show, four days a week of live TV is a lot. Especially with 5.30am starts. She’s recently started hypnotherapy to deal with sleep issues. ‘I know it’s a bit kooky, but I’d tried everything else,’ she says. ‘When you do live TV, you go into fight or flight, where your body is pumping adrenaline. But then, how do I chill out afterwards? How do I sleep? Because you can’t just run on empty.’
She still hangs out with her old mates from the SMTV era – Edith Bowman, Ant and Dec – although she laughs heartily when I ask if they host raucous celebrity-packed dinner parties. ‘Are you kidding me?’ She guffaws. ‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely to see them all every so often. But, after the show, I race home so that I’m there for when Paddy picks up the boys. Maybe when the kids leave home,’ she smiles, ‘that’s when we’ll have our raucous parties.’
The day after our interview, I switch on the TV to see Deeley performing The Perfect Couple dance routine with brilliant abandon. When I mention it to her at the Grazia photo shoot later that week, she bats my compliment away with a wry, ‘It was fair to middling at best.’
She charms everyone on set, chatting animatedly as she rifles through the rail. She loves fashion, although mostly buys things secondhand. At the NTAs, she wore a Saint Laurent gown from a vintage resale site. And, for This Morning, stylist Rachael Hughes pulls in a range of borrowed high street options, which are often mixed and matched with Deeley’s own stuff – such as her Bella Freud trousers with a top from Zara or Arket. ‘I don’t like disposable fashion,’ she says. ‘Even when I was filming So You Think You Can Dance, which was primetime on Fox, I’d wear a dress that I’d found in a flea market. For me, it’s like hunting for treasure.’
As for if there’ll be another series of the dance show, she’s pragmatic. ‘If Fox can find something else that will deliver a similar audience for less money, they’ll probably go with that,’ she shrugs. ‘If not, we might be back.’ This Morning bosses have agreed that she can have time off for filming if it goes ahead, but she seems relaxed about whether or not it’ll happen. In fact, when I ask about her long-term plans, she laughs. ‘Do you think I’ve got a long-term plan? Are you really getting that vibe from me? I’m just making it up as I go along.’
Photos: Brian Daly. Styling, Michelle Duguid. Hair: Chad Maxwell using ghd. Make-up: Liz Martins at Eighteen Management using Victoria Beckham Beauty. Nails: Robbie Tomkins at LMC Worldwide using Bio Sculpture. Lighting: Otto Saner. Digital: John Cronin. Stylist’s assistant: Gavi Weiss. Style intern: Isabella Morgan
TOP IMAGE: Cat wears (left) jacket and trousers, both Agolde; hooded jacket, Sandro; shoes, Church’s; earrings, Mulberry x Rejina Pyo; socks, Falke; (right) cardigan and trousers, both Jaeger; rings both Loveness Lee; shoes, earrings, socks, all as before.