Kate Garraway 'replaced' on Good Morning Britain as fans question her absence

Good Morning Britain fans were left puzzled as Kate Garraway was notably absent from the ITV morning programme today.

Kate, who normally presents the Thursday edition of the show or delivers the news if Susanna Reid is anchoring, was nowhere to be seen as the show kicked off today.

Instead, Richard Madeley and Charlotte Hawkins appeared to present with Marverine Cole stepping in as the newsreader, the Mirror reports.

Earlier this year, Kate faced the heartbreaking loss of her husband and shared the poignant journey through a deeply moving TV documentary that recently premiered on ITV, capturing Derek's final days.

Reflecting on her response to the documentary, Kate shared: "I couldn't really speak for about an hour after that, it was sort of a humour reaction. I couldn't really speak, I was overwhelmed, it was raw."

She continued, expressing her personal grief: "Things that jumped out at me were the unbelievable frustration of seeing how well he was doing, how much progress he'd made, for him to struggle so hard and he fought for so long... That's just a personal sadness for me."

Determined to honour the dedication of the healthcare workers who supported Derek, Kate insisted on airing the documentary.

She said: "I thought about the hundreds of specialists, nurses doctors, carers who had put so much of their own time to make things better for Derek and everybody.

"These four years had purpose, they were precious. It's not pointless. Life is life."

Kate previously admitted that her debts are between £500k and £800k having cared for Derek for a couple of years since he first fell ill.

The presenter feared that if her situation was affecting her this badly, it must be affecting other people in similar situations much more.

She shared: "If it is like this for me, what is it like for everybody else? Time and time again, the system tells us that Derek isn't sick enough, doesn't have enough of a health need to qualify for funded care.

"I've appealed but that still hasn't been processed two-and-a-half, three years later. If this is what it's like for me, what on Earth is it like for everybody else?

"Something has to be done, or the whole service, the people working in it, everything is going to break."

Kate also spoke about her plans to keep fundraising and campaigning for more support for those long-term sick, even though she thinks she may be running out of time.

She said: "Time is the one thing that we all don't have very much of and we can't keep living like this. We deserve to live with dignity and hope for the future, but at the moment that's being taken away from us."

"Derek and I never thought we'd be in this position, it's not something anyone plans for. We need to show people 'this is what could happen to you, and what will you do? '"

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