Annabel Croft’s husband Mel adorably gatecrashes chat with GB News’ Eamonn in one of last TV appearances
Annabel Croft and husband Mel spoke to Eamonn and Isabel in June 2022
GB NEWS
Annabel Croft's late husband Mel Coleman made a heartwarming cameo during a chat with GB News Breakfast hosts Isabel Webster and Eamonn Holmes just months before his death.
Coleman died at the age of 60 in May this year just eight weeks after he complained of stomach pains and was subsequently diagnosed with stage 3 cancer.
Croft met Coleman when she was just 21 and the pair married in 1992 shortly after her retirement from tennis.
The pair met when Croft was working alongside GB News' Holmes in the 1980s on a show for the BBC.
The friendship between Holmes and the husband and wife pair was evident when Croft joined him and Webster for a chat about Britain's Wimbledon hopefuls in June last year.
The typically "shy" Coleman made a rare appearance after Holmes teased Croft about how she met her other half.
Eamonn and Isabel welcomed Mel onto Breakfast
GB NEWS
"Tell Mel I said hello! Mel, your husband in case you’ve forgotten him, you met while me and you were (working)," Holmes quipped in the interview while Croft appeared via video link.
"He’s lurking over there, he says hello back again!” Croft replied to which Holmes beamed and answered back: "Hello, Mel - or ahoy I should say!"
Coleman was a professional yachtsman and was on hand to guide Croft and Holmes while they filmed the show on board a yacht of their own.
Reminiscing about their encounter, Holmes said to Croft: "I was telling Isabel who doesn’t believe me that we all went on a boat and you made off with one of the crew members."
An embarrassed Croft giggled before she replied: "Well, all I remember, Eamonn, is that we were both very, very young, and all I remember was you staggering up from the boat one day on about day four.
WATCH HERE: Annabel Croft and husband in 2022 interview
“And you said you were just so pleased to be on terra firma because I think you’d been quite sick below deck for quite a number of days and I don’t think you really had your sea legs.
“But that’s something that my husband who is a yachtsman, he’s never had a problem with."
As Holmes began to ponder just how long it'd been since the trio had crossed paths, Coleman could be heard telling his wife off-camera it was back in 1986.
Holmes and Webster goaded Coleman to take a spot next to Croft on-screen, which prompted the former to praise: "The years have been very kind to you, you still look as handsome as ever."
“Well, gone a bit silver fox but…” Coleman replied as the GB News hosts chuckled before Webster weighed in: “Annabel, bet you haven’t had an interview like this, this morning!”
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Annabel Croft and Johannes Radebe have been paired up for this year's Strictly
BBC
Coleman and Croft both laughed and grinned as they bid farewell to the GB News stars.
Croft was "heartbroken" by Coleman's sudden death earlier this year and touched upon how her husband would've felt about her seeing her partner with Strictly's Johannes Radebe.
Recalling Coleman's reaction to watching Radebe over the years, she told him during the Strictly 2023 launch show: "My husband absolutely loved it.
"He used to call me over if I was cooking, and he was crying watching it. So, I hope he’s watching," she added, leaving her pro partner tearful and vowing to do him proud.