Alison Hammond breaks down on This Morning Christmas special after emotional gift from Dermot

ok.co.uk:

Alison Hammond will be surprised with a seat named in her honour at her hometown theatre during the This Morning Christmas Day special.

In the two-hour festive edition of the ITV show, the TV presenter and her co-hosts Dermot O’Leary, Josie Gibson, Craig Doyle and Gyles Brandreth will sit down to open their presents from one another.

As a sequin-clad Alison comes to receive her gift, Dermot will reveal hers involves the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre, where she is currently starring in their pantomime production of Jack And The Beanstalk until January 28.

Dermot says: “The Birmingham Hippodrome, it’s a very special place for you and a lifelong dream that you’re performing there.” After Birmingham-born Alison agrees it is a “massively” special place for her, he reveals: “So, we’ve named a seat ‘ Alison Hammond, TV queen and pantomime star’. “That’s named after you in perpetuity, forever.” Alison breaks down in tears at the news, saying: “I’m so sorry I’m crying, you don’t understand what that would have meant to my mum.” Dermot reveals they have one more surprise for Alison as he adds: “With that in mind, we know you used to go there with your mother so we’ve got the next seat along, we’ve just named it after your mother. “Now, we know also, we’ve talked about it many times that one of her favourite musicals was West Side Story so we’ve put ‘the most beautiful sound I ever heard, Maria’ on there.” After Dermot embraces an emotional Alison, she thanks the team saying: “Thank you so much, that’s the best Christmas present I ever had.