Photos: Look who replaces Piers Morgan on #GoodMorningBritain

Smart or bad move?

Good Morning Britain fans took to Twitter to criticise Alex Beresford this morning as he stepped into the presenter's chair, just weeks after his on-air row with Piers Morgan, which ended with the host quitting the show. 

Beresford, 40, has been best known on the show for presenting the weather, but joined Kate Garraway front and centre on today's broadcast - a move which caused a stir with many viewers on social media. The departure of controversial host Morgan, 55, has seen many vote with their feet, as viewing figures for ITV's flagship breakfast programme have continued to slide since he stormed off at the start of the month. Latest figures showed GMB drew in just 840,000 viewers on Thursday - a huge drop since its record-breaking morning of figures on Morgan's last day, when some 1.29 million tuned in, meaning nearly half a million people have deserted the show. 

By contrast, BBC Breakfast attracted 1.53 million viewers on Thursday morning. Thursday's figures for ITV are generally consistent with what has been seen in the weeks since Morgan's departure, although ratings did increase earlier this week to 1.1 million for Ben Shephard's appearance alongside Susanna Reid on Tuesday, before dropping by 100,000 the following day. 

Viewing figures are not yet available for Friday morning's programme.