Richard Madeley fought back the tears on Good Morning Britain on Thursday as he paid tribute to a ‘very good friend’ of 50 years who passed away – which left guest Stephen Mangan feeling emotional.

The 69-year-old returned to our screens alongside Kate Garraway, 58, to present the latest episode of the ITV show.

The pair caught up with The Split actor Stephen, 57, to chat about about the upcoming series of Landscape Artist Of The Year.

At the end of the interview, Richard took some time to pay his respects to one of his late friends that he shares with Stephen.

Getting very emotional about what he was about to say, Richard said: ‘I don’t want to finish this interview without paying a very short tribute to a very good friend of both of us. Stuart Prebble.’

Added Kate: ‘He was very close to you as well.’

Fighting back the tears, Richard continued: ‘I knew Stuart for 50 years. He passed away very sadly earlier this year.

‘We last met at his funeral.’

Stephen Mangan said: ‘And you spoke really beautifully.’

Before Richard added: ‘I was speaking of a very beautiful man. We miss him very much. I just thought it was something I should say.’

His co-star Kate said: ‘Richard, what a lovely, lovely person you are. A lovely person.’

Television executive Stuart, who was the Chairman of Storyvault Films, passed away aged 74 in August last year after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

He was also the CEO of ITV, Granada Sky Broadcasting and ITV Digital.

Stuart also worked for the BBC.

Stuart was the executive producer of BBC2’s series Grumpy Old Men and also worked on Why We Went to War, The Alastair Campbell Diaries and Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory.

As well as working in television, he also published 11 books, including A Power In The Land, The Insect Farm and Black And Blue.

Stuart was married to Barbara Gifford (1973 to 1978) and Marilyn Charlton (1978 to 2020).

He tied the knot to Samantha Richards in 2020.

It’s not the first time this week that someone has got emotional on the show.

It comes after Calum Best fought back the tears as he recounted his mum Angie’s ‘traumatising and all-consuming’ cancer battle on Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning Britain.

The 44-year-old appeared on the ITV show to spread awareness of the disease and asked viewers to get checked as he spoke to hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls.

Calum’s mother, the ex-wife of football legend George Best, shared the heartbreaking news that she had been diagnosed with colon cancer earlier this month, which has now spread to her liver.

‘Colon cancer is a growth of cells that begins in a part of the large intestine called the colon,’ according to Mayo Clinic.

Ed asked Calum how her mum is doing, to which he said: ‘This is crazy, I’ve had the pleasure of coming on here for many years and talking about things, this is the first time I’m sitting here going “It’s so raw and it’s so fresh.”

‘You can watch people on social media, friends, family, that lost or dealt with, but when it lands on your doorstep, it’s raw and it’s real and it’s all consuming.

‘Without going into too much detail, I had to take my mum to Zurich, because of a time frame, in December she was diagnosed, they found a 30cm tumour in her colon that had metastasized to her liver.

‘Next steps were I had to take some actions as soon as possible. We found a clinic in Zurich, and she started chemo last week.

‘It’s wiped her out, bless her. She’s an absolute fighter, she’s a trooper.

‘She’s spread health and wellness her whole life, from PT to everything, and now, it just shows it doesn’t matter what you do and how you do it, it can affect anybody.’

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX from 6am.