Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield will be enjoying a long weekend after finding themselves with the day off on Monday. The TV duo will not be presenting This Morning on Monday – in fact, the show won't be on at all! The reason? The Rugby World Cup. After some major disruptions to ITV's scheduling this week – This Morning and Loose Women were cancelled on Thursday – next week also sees a schedule shake-up as Scotland take on Samoa at the Kobe Misaki Stadium in Japan.
With kick-off slated for 11.15am, the build-up will commence at 10.25am so takes the place of This Morning's usual slot of 10.30am. ITV will return to normal scheduling at 1.30pm with the lunchtime news. Sadly for those hoping for an imminent return of This Morning, the programme is set to be disrupted further next week and well into next month as the rugby continues.
Holly and Phil will enjoy a long weekend
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The Rugby World Cup runs from 20 September until 2 November. Japan is eight hours ahead of the UK (BST), which will change to nine hours when the clocks revert to GMT on 27 October. Therefore due to the time difference, matches that are played in the evening in Japan will be televised in the morning in the UK.
This Morning is set for further disruption
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Last week, viewers vented their frustration on social media after it was announced that the start of the World Cup meant there was no This Morning on Friday (20 September) and Monday (23 September). "Sorry but who cares about the Rugby? It’s 10:30am I need my Holly and Phil fix," one frustrated viewer wrote on Twitter. Another moaned: "You could’ve put Rugby on another channel nobody watches. Six weeks of Rugby interrupting the schedule is not acceptable."
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