Steph McGovern flooded with support as she reunites with co-stars after Channel 4 axing

Steph McGovern's Channel 4 daytime show Packed Lunch was axed at the end of last year.

By Fran Winston, Showbiz Reporter

16:20, Tue, Jul 16, 2024 | UPDATED: 16:22, Tue, Jul 16, 2024

Steph McGovern's emotional speech on final Packed Lunch show

Steph McGovern has met up with two of the regular contributors to her now-defunct Channel 4 show and fans were loving it. The former daytime TV star took to Instagram to share a couple of images of herself with The Rev’d Canon Kate Bottley and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi who both regularly appeared on Steph's Packed Lunch.

Captioning the images for her 126,000 followers she tagged her dining companions and wrote: "Lasses who lunch…… from packed lunch to posh lunch!" The trio were dining in York and looked delighted with their reunion as they smiled broadly.

Kate chimed in on the comments: "Many things were spoken of, none of which can be divulged." Meanwhile, Sunday Brunch presenter Simon Rimmer lamented: "Oh I wish I’d been there (or invited) xx."

Fans of the show were thrilled to see some of the old team back together and took to the comments to share how much they missed the show and call for its return.

@jennyxchops cried: "Miss you guys on the TV so much, it was honestly the only daytime show I felt the people genuinely liked each other and you could feel that through the screen."

Three women smiling as they lean into each other for a picture while sitting at a table in a restaurant

The Rev’d Canon Kate Bottley and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi joined Steph McGovern for lunch (Image: Steph McGovern Instagram)

@mrselizabethlynn complimented: "Lovely photo ladies. Im still missing you all at lunchtime. Steph's Packed Lunch was my favourite daytime show x."

@amyrockson was also missing the programme writing: "Miss your show so much. It was innovative, balanced, funny and refreshing. The antithesis to everything else that’s on at that time. Can’t help thinking they extended it by half and hour just to doctor the ratings. Ridiculous. You’re fab."

@nicola.devlin.90 wailed: "Ahhhh miss you all! Steph you and gang got me through WFH in lockdown! From day 1 in your kitchen x please channel 4 rethink!!"

Meanwhile pat.newell4 wrote: "Miss this program so much see all those that worked on there now work on This Morning definitely not the same, they should cancel that or have Steph take over."

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The Rev’d Canon Kate Bottley, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Steph McGovern sitting at a table in a restaurant smiling

The Rev’d Canon Kate Bottley and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi appeared on Steph McGovern's show (Image: Steph McGovern Instagram)

Channel 4 released a statement in October 2023 explaining their decision to axe the series.

They said: “Audience habits changing quicker than ever, we have to make difficult decisions about which programmes to invest in to best drive our digital-first strategy, and we have decided not to recommission Steph's Packed Lunch when its existing production contract ends in December 2023."

On December 8 2023, the day of the show's final broadcast, Steph took to social media to share her experience of her last day on the programme after three years. She shared an image on Instagram of her cue cards, an earpiece, and a microphone sitting on a table.

She said that she was “incredibly proud” of all the programme has achieved and she also credited it for “kick-starting” the channel’s growth in the north of England.