Last night, ITV Granada Reports presenter Lucy Meacock led a special tribute programme dedicated to her co-host Tony Morris who passed away at the weekend after a battle with cancer.
A true adopted Northener, Tony Morris spent 17 years alongside Lucy presenting the North West daily news programme on ITV and was loved by viewers across the region.
Yesterday, when news broke that Tony had passed away at Bury Hospice on Saturday with his two daughters by his side, tributes and messages of condolences were widespread on social media.
He was diagnosed last year with kidney cancer and was on air until only a few weeks ago, most recently hosting a piece about the on-going Black Lives Matter protests.
Tony joined Granada from the BBC’s North West Tonight in 2003 and made an immediate impact with his new colleagues and Granada’s viewers.
He helped Granada Reports become the first regional news programme to win a BAFTA, presenting with Lucy the 2007 News Coverage winner about the Morecambe Bay Cockle Picking tragedy.
A second BAFTA followed in 2013 for coverage of the Independent Panel into the Hillsborough Disaster.
At 6pm last night, ITV honoured him with a programme about his life and his work, which included stories by colleagues and loved ones, as well as a poem about Tony read by Argh Kid.
You can watch the 30 minute programme in full below.
