ITV recruit Bleakley for new show

Christine Bleakley has landed a new primetime ITV show.

The 29-year-old presenter – whose morning programme ‘Daybreak’ has been widely criticised since it debuted on screen last summer – will front ‘Guess the Star’, a celebrity talent contest loosely based on popular singing show ‘Stars n their Eyes’.

The new programme sees famous faces perform as their favourite acts and a panel of judges - to include Louis Spence and Pauline Quirke - must guess which heavily-disguised star is giving the performance.

A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “When ITV signed Christine from the BBC they made it very clear she would be working on other projects. You don’t pay someone £4million just to present a breakfast ­programme, especially one that is under-­performing.

“The show is only in the ­development stage but ITV are ­hoping it will be the perfect platform for Christine to launch herself as a primetime entertainment ­presenter.

“The prosthetics people are ­absolutely brilliant and from what we’ve been told they make the celebs ­absolutely ­unrecognisable.”

ITV are currently shooting pilot episodes in summer – with one previously revealed as featuring Nicky Campbell impersonating Liam Gallagher – and the show is expected to air early next year.