TV presenter Holly Willoughby has shared a clip of her time presenting comedy show Play to the Whistle. The British comedy panel game television programme premiered on ITV on April 11 2015.
In each episode two teams of three members, with one member being a regular captain, compete in sports knowledge rounds and physical games to earn points, and the team with the most points at the end is declared the winner. Teams were captained by Bradley Walsh and former Everton boss Frank Lampard. Only three series of the show aired, with the final episode hitting screens on April 4, 2017.
On Instagram this afternoon, Holly reminisced on the show for a “Throwback Thursday”. Alongside a video, she wrote: “Sometimes you just have to show Bradley Walsh who’s boss! #throwbackthursday Definitely worth watching till the end for my best throw ever!
“You can continue to throw it back over on @youtube follow and subscribe to Bear Laughs … my goodness we all need a laugh. Will add link on my story’s.”
In the video, Holly tells the Chase presenter: “Seriously, if you cheat, you’re going to be disqualified, seriously. Take the towel off your mouth now. No seriously.”
Holly proceeded to hold the arms of Bradley Walsh above his head and stand him in the corner, as she said: “I’ve told you enough times and I have gave you enough warnings. Stay there.” As Holly turned her back to ask contestants the next question, Bradley could be seen in the background crawling on his hands and knees.
A deck of question cards were launched at the head of Bradley by Holly after he shouted out an answer, despite being disqualified. The TV stars have worked closely together on TV before.
They hosted a gameshow together called Take Off with Bradley and Holly. The show was based on members of the public competing to win seats on a plane to LA and Vegas.
Holly started out presenting children’s programmes before being paired with Philip Schofield to host Dancing on Ice in 2006, and then the long-running This Morning in 2009.
The pair’s success led This Morning to win National Television Awards in the daytime, live magazine and topical magazine programme categories for 12 years in a row.
However, in October 2023, Holly decided to step down from This Morning. In a statement, she said: “I have let ITV know today that after 14 years, I will not be returning to This Morning.”
She added: “It’s been an honour to just be part of its story and I know this story has many chapters left to go. Sadly, however, I now feel I have to make this decision for me and my family.”
This year, Holly hosted Netflix show Celebrity Bear Hunt. The series premiered on Netflix on February 5 2025 and was set in a jungle in Costa Rica, the show followed twelve celebrities as they became “prey”, being hunted down by Bear Grylls.
Reacting to the clip of Play to the Whistle, fans sent messages to Holly. One fan wrote “Miss you on tv Holly” and another said “Loved this show! You and Bradley work so well together.”
Others wrote: “Pay to the whistle was underrated, I miss it” and “Good to see you being assertive with these guys, @hollywilloughby. All good fun.”