Dr. Hilary Jones was "stunned" to be offered a job by ITV after becoming frustrated as a viewer.
ITV Daytime star Dr Hilary Jones is celebrating his 70th birthday
The GP has appeared as the resident doctor on various incarnations of the broadcaster's breakfast schedule since 1993 and as he celebrated his 70th birthday on Monday's (19.06.23) episode of 'Lorraine', he was heard explaining in an archive clip as part of a celebratory montage that he asked them for a job when other doctors failed to "get to the point" of medical issues on television.
He said: "I was watching 'TV-am' one day and I thought 'Get to the point, tell us what want to know!' and I wrote a letter basically saying 'Give me a job' and I was stunned to get the letter saying 'Come in for a screen test' and two weeks later I was the TV-AM doctor."
The TV star has fronted campaigns for breast cancer checkups and worked with the late Dame Deborah James - who passed away in June 2022 aged 40 - on her No Butts bowel cancer campaign and explained that his aim has always been to "empower" others with knowledge of health.
He said: "I like to keep it simple because that's as far as my intelligence goes! No, it's just about empowering people about their health and to not be frightened, and to make healthcare more accessible to them. On this programme, we've had letters from viewers who have said 'Thank you for covering that', we've broken some taboos, we've had testicular examinations on the programme. "
As part of the birthday celebrations, host Lorraine Kelly presented Dr. Hilary with a cake and has even organised for him to go on the longest zip wire in Wales whilst studio runners and staff all donned party hats bearing a picture of his face.
He said: "I just want to say thank you to everyone I work with in front of camera and behind camera, you do a fantastic, astonishing job!"
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