Richard and Judy return to This Morning sofa for first time in 18 years

Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan admitted it felt “weird” as they returned to the This Morning sofa for the first time in 18 years.

The duo returned to host the ITV daytime show they launched for a one-off episode.

Madeley welcomed viewers, saying: “Do not adjust your sets.

“Hello and welcome to your Friday’s This Morning, I was going to say it’s lovely to be back but it’s actually weird.”

Finnigan added: “It’s very, very weird. We will be talking to Paul O’Grady in a minute, he said he’s just got new lenses in his specs and that is exactly how this feels here, really strange.”

The pair were also reunited with agony aunt Vanessa Feltz, who was offering advice on dating later in life, a topic she first addressed on the show 26 years ago.

Madeley, 63, and Finnigan, 71, launched This Morning, now hosted by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, 31 years ago.

They fronted the show for 13 years before moving on in 2001.

Their return also saw them reunited with a string of familiar faces, including O’Grady and Feltz, as well as Madeley’s new friend Georgina Elliott, who he met while he was a celebrity guest on reality show The Circle.

The 22-year-old from Nottingham opened up about living with Crohn’s disease during her time on the Channel 4 series.

During the series, she uploaded a photograph of herself in a bikini, showing her wearing her ileostomy bag, which she previously had.

She told Madeley: “I was just nervous of the fact that there’s a chance people might think this is not real and that would have upset me more”.

Crohn’s disease is described by the NHS website as a lifelong condition and one in which “parts of the digestive system become inflamed”.

The hosts were also joined on the sofa by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.