No promo. No countdown. Just one morning — and one face — that flipped the show from routine to reunion, sending shockwaves through the studio and locking viewers to their screens. The return wasn’t just unexpected; it felt like a new chapter cracking open live on air

BBC Breakfast fans were overjoyed as a popular star returned to our screens on Monday after an extended break from the show.

The latest episode of the programme saw Sally Nugent, 54, and Jon Kay, 55, discuss the latest headlines from the iconic red sofa.

Just minutes into the show, one of the favourite members of the team made an appearance after three weeks away.

Jon told viewers: ‘Right, it is quarter past six. I’m delighted to say that Carol’s back with us this morning.’

‘Very delighted. Morning Carol,’ Sally added.

Jon told the weather woman: ‘Just as the sun comes out, you have come back.’

Carol, 63, wowed in a low cut body con purple dress, and she styled her hair into loose waves.

She replied: ‘Timed that beautifully. Good morning, both, and good morning to you, too.

‘It is lovely to be back.’

Carol was last seen on on our screens in August and meteorologist Matt Taylor, 49, stepped in for her.

But last night he took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to say that his time was up.

Matt said: ‘My wonderful friend @carolkirkwood is back tomorrow morning.

‘The fact that the sun is back after three weeks of rain (when I was on Breakfast duty) is PURELY COINCIDENTAL!’

He said in a video: ‘Right, so I have just done three weeks of Breakfast. It has rained every single day.

‘According to the Environmental Agency as well, across England, we had the wettest week of weather in around a year.

‘Carol is back on Monday, blue skies out, drier week for most.’

Carol was trained by the Met Office and has been part of the BBC Breakfast team since 1997.

It comes after Carol said she’s ‘too old’ to fulfil her dream of presenting Blue Peter.

The show has been on the Beeb since 1958.

Earlier this month Carol’s dream about joining them was revealed ITV, when she was being cooked a meal by the host of ‘James Martin’s Saturday Morning’.

The celebrity chef cooked her up a ‘well done’ steak at her request but then Carol left fans feeling for her when she began to talk about her age.

Discussing her previous work, the 63-year-old told James: “I worked as a secretary at the BBC for a while, as a production secretary ironically on BBC Breakfast, and then I left.

‘But I’d still got lots of friends there and one of my friends said, ‘What do you want to do?’

‘And I said “I’d love to be a Blue Peter presenter, but of course I’m too old, I’m never going to do it’.”

Reassuringly, James told her: ‘Don’t be so daft!”

Carol insisted: ‘Well certainly not now.’