Richard Gaisford: Good Morning Britain correspondent returns to air after surgery as Susanna Reid and Ed Balls offer support

Good Morning Britain's chief correspondent Richard Gaisford has returned to screens weeks after his emergency surgery.

Gaisford was admitted to hospital two weeks ago after an infection which wouldn't budge with antibiotics. However, he had given followers an update in a new post on X (formerly Twitter) posted on Monday, March 11, saying: "An unedited, filterless, post op pic After two weeks of enforced rest (& voluntary beard growth) I’m heading back to work. Still have a hole in my leg that is slowly healing, but will be minus my strangely white whiskers when I appear @GMB."

The reporter was warmly welcomed back to the popular morning show by hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls on Tuesday's episode. Gaisford reported on a story live from a very rainy Windsor on his return to the show.

In his initial post, he told his followers: "Not quite the Sunday I’d planned. Many thanks to the incredible team @PHU_NHS [Portsmouth Hospitals University] for amazing care and a spot of emergency surgery. NHS at its very best. I realise there are untold pressures at the moment, but the service I received was first class and hugely appreciated."

Opening up about his condition afterwards, he added: "I'm not at death's door. I developed an infection in my leg in Ukraine that didn’t respond to antibiotics. I sought advice from the NHS and doctors decided an immediate operation to open up the affected area and clean out the infection was the best course of action. I have a big hole, but hopefully nothing nasty left inside. I should be back working soon, but might not return to the frontlines for a while."