Louise Minchin says she misses BBC Breakfast and replies to return rumours

Louise Minchin has opened up about her time on BBC Breakfast, admitting she misses her former co-stars nearly three years after leaving the show. The TV journalist had a two-decade-long stint on the morning programme before her departure.

In an exclusive chat with Express.co.uk, Louise revealed why she decided to leave and who she still keeps in touch with from the show. She also confessed that she never quite adjusted to the early morning starts required for BBC Breakfast.

She shared: "Dan and I talk a lot. He's so sweet because if I phone him up, he'll always answer my phone. And you know, obviously, I would try not to phone him when he was on air, but we still talk."

"I miss two things. I really miss the team. I really miss, you know, Sally [Nugent] and Jon [Kay] and Dan and Carol [Kirkwood]. Also the wider team as well - the breakfast team."

She also admitted that working on BBC Breakfast was "hard" and "stressful", largely due to the early wake-up calls and lack of sleep. The show airs from 6am until 9am each day, with some presenters revealing they rise at a staggering 3:15am, reports the Express.

Louise explained: "What the stress was having to concentrate for three and a quarter hours when you've got so many things going on. News stories are changing all the time doing 12 different interviews on 12 different subjects."

"You know, there's that pressure. There are six million people watching. [...] Dan and I both found them [early wake-ups] really hard. We had sort of different approaches. I mean, he survived on very little sleep."

In recent times, Dan addressed the speculation about reprising his presenter role on BBC Breakfast. A fan reached out to him during an Instagram Q&A session asking: "Do you miss BBC Breakfast and would you ever go back? ".

Responding with a snap of himself and BBC Breakfast co-presenter Sally Nugent, Dan wrote: "I miss my friends...but no," accompanied by a laughing emoji.

Louise has now partnered with Intrepid Travel to inspire women to follow their travel dreams due to the deficit in representation in the travel television industry.

Their data revealed only 13% of women feel like they see themselves represented consistently in adventure or travel television shows, whereas one-third (33%) said they feel more adventurous than before.

Commenting on the campaign, Louise expressed, "I think it's really important as a woman to see other women represented in having adventures, you know, wherever it is in the world and you can have an adventure in the UK as well."