Aled Jones has been named as the co-host of ITV's Daybreak, alongside Lorraine Kelly.

The radio presenter and Songs of Praise favourite will join the early morning team later this year.

Jones said today:

“I am so thrilled to be joining ITV for their breakfast show. I am thoroughly looking forward to sharing the sofa every morning with such a consummate professional as Lorraine Kelly. We've known each other for a very long time and have always had a lot of fun together. We hope that the viewers enjoy being part of our breakfast family.

Lorraine Kelly was earlier named as one of the replacements for Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley, who left the dawn programme earlier this year.

Chiles and Bleakley had struggled to repeat their success as co-presenters on the BBC's One Show, with viewers abandoning them in droves, complaining that Chiles was too curmudgeonly for that time in the morning, and that Bleakley's new lifestyle as a WAG made her less easy to relate to than previously.

Bleakley, who went on to host Dancing on Ice, had also complained of the early mornings, saying she felt more "herself" since leaving the Daybreak sofa behind.

Lorraine Kelly is well established on ITV in the morning, with her daily chat show. She said today:

“I'm really looking forward to this challenge and to working with Aled who is a warm, funny and thoroughly decent bloke and is already a good friend."

ITV Studios' Controller of Daytime and Lifestyle, Fiona Keenaghan, added:

“I'm incredibly excited to be taking ITV’s breakfast show forward with Lorraine and Aled at the helm. They are two of the country's most loved and talented presenters and having seen them together, I know viewers are in for a real treat.