Piers Morgan has had to be resilient during his near 40-year career in journalism. In 2004, he was sacked as editor of the Daily Mirror and escorted from the paper’s offices after it had published photographs, later shown to be fakes, showing British soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners. In 2014 Morgan was sacked again when ratings for his CNN show collapsed. Last year, his six-year reign on ITV’s Good Morning Britain ended when a co-presenter challenged his persistent attacks on Meghan Markle: Morgan walked off the set and later resigned when he was ordered to apologise.
Nevertheless, this year must have been a challenge, even for him. In April, ahead of the launch of his new show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, the 57-year-old’s image appeared on ad hoardings and buses across the UK – a statement of serious intent from Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV. In the months that followed, Morgan’s many critics have delighted in referring to his show as Piers Morgan Unwatched. Reports of poor viewing figures seemed to signal a decline in fortune for a man reported to make around £15m a year from TalkTV, Fox documentaries, columns for the Sun and New York Post, and a book deal with HarperCollins.
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