A lot of people can’t stand television presenters Anne Diamond and Nick Owen. ‘I don’t have a personal need to be loved by everybody,’ retorts Anne, wearing a loud applique jumper with jewellery at the collar. She knows that she gets up people’s noses.

‘You want to be liked, it would be nice to be liked by everybody,’ she says. ‘But people automatically decide they love or hate you. Television takes you right into people’s homes and they form an opinion on you. Frankly, there’s not much you can do about that.’

Anne and Nick are sitting on a pinkish sofa, perhaps the first time they have done so publicly since they split up in 1986. Widely accredited with rescuing TV-am from the doldrums, they are being reunited on BBC1 for Good Morning … with Anne and Nick, starting on 12 October at 10.30am. The programme, it is said, will tackle major issues of the day.

‘We don’t like the word ‘issues’ very much,’ says Anne. ‘It sounds a bit weighty. We’ll be doing human journalism, people stories.’

‘It’s a topical magazine programme,’ interjects Nick. ‘Stress the word topical … There’ll be lots of specialists and advice spots – agony aunt, gardening, medicine, vet…’

‘Financial adviser lady, legal adviser lady,’ Anne pips in.

THERE will also be a big phone-in factor, says Nick, wearing a jazzy tie. ‘It’s not a phone-in programme, but people can phone 24 hours a day for advice and help.’ The counselling will be pertinent to the issue of the day. ‘We’re aiming at whoever is out there, not just housewives and kids. There are,’ continues Nick, ‘blokes out there.’

Anne is pretty, with perfect teeth. ‘People always say I’m pert.’ They also say she has the face of a chipmunk.

‘Writing that is a bloody disgrace,’ says Nick. ‘What will Anne’s parents or children think?’ Nick, on the other hand, has sad eyes. ‘I’m not a sad person,’ he says, in melancholic tone. ‘There is just a lot going on in the old emotions at the moment.’

‘I think his eyes are sensitive,’ says Anne.

Anne, 38, and Nick, 44, have been brought in to beat ITV’s saccharine duo, married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finigan, the precious hosts of This Morning. ‘There is no personal rivalry,’ says Anne. ‘We know Richard and Judy fairly well, don’t we?’

‘Oh yeah, yeah… They have a great rapport, not surprisingly since they are married. But we spark off in our own way and our programme will have a very different feel.’

Mr Ordinary and Miss Average, as they were known in their TV-am days, are not married to each other. They talk then about their relationship. ‘Even people in the industry get muddled. We went on the telethon with all our children and I overheard a technician saying, ‘Ooh, I knew they were married, but I didn’t know they had that many kids.”

‘We have a terrific buzz between us. A great spark,’ says Nick. ‘It’s been there since we first met in 1979.’ Their affection for one another is palpable. Are they best friends? ‘Oh Christ yes. We’re on the phone to each other all the time.’

Their relationship doesn’t present difficulties with their respective spouses. ‘Anne’s husband has thrown us together again.’ Mike Hollingsworth is editing the new show.

Anne and Nick have a telepathic relationship. ‘We certainly know how each other is feeling during a live programme,’ explains that nice smiling Nick. So, Nick, how is Anne feeling now? Her manner is self-assured. He pauses before answering. ‘Fraught.’

‘Yuh,’ says Anne.

They both sit with their arms crossed protectively throughout the interview, communicating with their body language and rescuing one another from difficult questions. On television, if Nick wants to interrupt Anne, he strokes her thigh gently.

Anne doesn’t mind being back in the media spotlight. (She has, however, endured a horrific year following the cot death of her son, Sebastian.) ‘You only had to sneeze at TV-am and it was front page of The Sun. I broke my toe one day, and that made the front page, too,’ she says, high-pitched. RECENTLY Anna Ford launched an attack on the BBC for refusing to allow female journalists to tackle serious stories: television, she said, is middle-aged, middle-class, white Anglo-Saxon men. ‘You can get drawn too deeply into the sexist argument,’ counters Anne.

Nick thinks they have learned a lot with age. ‘Now I think, ooh yes, I see what Plato or Socrates meant.’

The real Anne and Nick are not much different from their screen versions. Nick is gentle and friendly, a sensitive soul, and Anne is quick-witted and sometimes a little prickly. They are both ever so bright and jokey. Talking to them is like having a conversation with a television programme. In 1985, Nick was dubbed one of the world’s most boring men. ‘That’s balls! I just said I was an ordinary guy, and this book, Glad To Be Grey, said I was striking a blow for ordinary people.’

This is all rather unfair because you will recall the incident when Pamela Stephenson tried to brighten him up by taking off his trousers in public. He took it in good part, but landed up in hospital later. ‘Yes, I said to her it would be all right to do it privately,’ he says, in well rehearsed manner.

So what are their qualities? ‘Ooh, Jesus,’ Nick exhales.

‘I can tell you what his characteristics are,’ says Anne, perkily. ‘I think he’s intelligent but gentle, terribly warm and humorous, caring and picky about his food.’

Does Nick disagree with anything Anne has said? ‘Ooh God,’ says Nick. ‘Well I’m not going to say ‘yes I am intelligent’. I like to think I’m reasonably bright. Anne is extremely sharp. She’s also very quick to get to the nub of an issue, terribly sensitive and she laughs at my jokes.’ Anne laughs. ‘On the downside she gets over-upset about things she shouldn’t worry about…’

‘He really is diplomatic,’ Anne jumps in. ‘Sometimes too calm. I could whack him for that…’ Giggle, giggle.

‘I love being whacked…’

‘…but I know he likes it too much.’ deputes.