Eamonn Holmes has made the surprise announcement that he is stepping down from Sky News Sunrise, the breakfast show he has hosted for 11 years. Taking to Facebook, the popular presenter wrote that it was thanks to Sky that he could fulfil "the stuff of boyhood dreams".
Admitting that there is "an addiction" to working in a breaking news studio environment, Eamonn, 46, acknowledged that it was time to move on and pursue his other dreams.
"After more than 3,000 hours of programming it is a habit I have to suppress," he wrote. "Increasingly in life I have found myself in the fortunate position of having so much to do but little time to do it. This seems an opportune moment to change that."
© Photo: Getty ImagesEamonn acknowledged that it was time to move on and pursue his other dreams
"Going forward, I will now produce and present a number of documentary projects which I have been stalling for some time, as well as continuing my work with ITV and Channel 5. There is so much going on and I realised it was now or never..." he wrote.
Eamonn, who presents ITV's This Morning with his wife Ruth Langsford on Friday mornings, publicly thanked Sky's Head of News John Ryley for being understanding and sympathetic to his decision.
© Photo: Getty ImagesEamonn also presents ITV's This Morning with his Ruth Langsford
"Finally, I cannot stress how hard it is saying goodbye to such a programme and the friends and colleagues who I have met over the years because of it – but nothing stays the same – nor should it," he concluded.
"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."
Eamonn has spent 23 years working on breakfast shows. He joined Sky in 2005 after 12 years at GMTV. He hosts Sunrise from Mondays to Thursdays, and also fronts It's Not Me, It's You and How The Other Half Lives on Channel 5.
