Holly Willoughby’s ambition to reclaim her former place at the center of British television has clearly not faded. After stepping away from the spotlight following a turbulent period involving the Phillip Schofield scandal and a serious security incident, the former This Morning presenter has been steadily working on her return. Her first major move was the launch of her self-produced YouTube series Together, but the comeback has received a mixed response. Now, rather than allowing the criticism to slow her down, Holly is reportedly preparing an even bigger move: taking her career across the Atlantic.

According to reports, Holly, 45, is set to film a pilot for a new chat show being considered by Disney+. The project would reportedly target an American audience and focus on conversations with high-profile women, with empowerment and authenticity at the heart of the format. The pilot is expected to be filmed later this month, potentially giving Holly a route back into mainstream television after several years away.

A source claimed that Holly has been approached about the project and is preparing to record the pilot in the coming weeks. The proposed programme is reportedly called The Holding Space with Holly Willoughby and would see her interviewing prominent women about their experiences, ambitions and personal journeys. According to the insider, the concept is built around creating a space for honest conversations while presenting Holly as the person guiding those discussions.

The production company behind the project is said to have already invested a significant amount of money into the pilot and is reportedly confident that Disney+ executives could ultimately pick up the series. Holly’s representatives have been approached for comment.

The reported Disney+ opportunity comes only weeks after Holly returned to the public eye with Together, marking her first significant on-screen venture since leaving This Morning in October 2023. Her departure followed the revelation that she had been the target of an alleged plot to kidnap her. That incident came months after This Morning was engulfed in another major controversy when her longtime co-host Phillip Schofield admitted that he had lied about a relationship with a much younger colleague.

Since then, Holly’s television career has struggled to regain the momentum it once had. Her last major television role was Dancing On Ice, which was cancelled in 2025, while her Netflix programme Celebrity Bear Hunt was also dropped last year. With those projects behind her, Together was intended to establish a new chapter for the presenter on her own terms.

However, the response to the YouTube show has been far from universally positive. Holly launched the first episode at the end of last month, welcoming actor Stanley Tucci as her first guest. The pair cooked together while attempting to create a relaxed and informal atmosphere, with Holly leaning heavily into humour, swearing and playful innuendo.

Some critics felt that the effort to appear more relatable came across as unnatural. One of the most damaging reviews came from The Telegraph, which gave the programme just one star and compared Holly’s reinvention with Meghan Markle’s attempt to establish herself in the lifestyle television space. The publication described the episode as an awkward and overly long experience, arguing that even Tucci’s natural charisma could not completely rescue the format.

Other reviews were more balanced but still questioned the structure. The Mirror awarded the show three stars, suggesting that an episode lasting around 50 minutes was excessive for such a simple cooking segment. The publication also suggested that future episodes could benefit from a shorter format or multiple guests to make the conversations faster and more engaging.

The i Paper similarly criticized Holly’s attempt to redefine herself as relatable, arguing that she appeared caught between two different identities: an unfiltered personality and the polished celebrity image viewers had known for years. The review suggested that Holly’s greatest strength had always been her professionalism rather than trying to present herself as an everyday personality.

The Guardian also gave the series three stars, describing it as a reinvention that moves Holly toward the lifestyle and cookery space. Yet despite the criticism, the programme has attracted attention and appears to have retained the interest of many of her existing fans.

The first episode, featuring Tucci, reportedly received around 41,000 views within its first 24 hours, while Holly’s YouTube channel currently has approximately 11,000 subscribers. Although those figures are modest compared with established entertainment platforms, they indicate that there remains an audience willing to follow her into a new format.

The contrast becomes clearer when compared with established entertainment programmes. The Rest Is Entertainment, for example, launched in November 2023 and has since built a substantially larger audience, with around 138,000 subscribers. Its episode released on the same day as Holly’s Tucci programme accumulated roughly 29,000 views, highlighting how difficult it can be for a new celebrity-led platform to immediately establish itself.

Despite the critical response, Holly is continuing with Together. Upcoming episodes are expected to feature familiar names including her friends Nicole Appleton and Emma Bunton, as well as comedians Katherine Ryan and Joanne McNally. These guests could give the format more variety and potentially address some of the criticism surrounding the first episode.

Now, the reported Disney+ pilot suggests Holly is thinking beyond YouTube. Rather than simply returning to the career she had before, she appears to be attempting to rebuild her profile through a new image and potentially a new international audience. Her reported decision to pursue a project centered on influential women and empowerment could also allow her to move away from the controversies that dominated the final years of her This Morning career.

Whether Disney+ ultimately commissions The Holding Space with Holly Willoughby remains uncertain. The pilot still has to prove that the concept works, and the response to Together demonstrates that Holly’s return will not automatically receive universal approval.

Nevertheless, the reported project shows that Holly has no intention of quietly stepping away. After years of disruption, criticism and an uncertain return to television, she is once again pushing for a bigger platform. Her YouTube experiment may not have produced the triumphant comeback some expected, but the Disney+ opportunity could represent a much more ambitious attempt to restore her position—and perhaps take her career far beyond the British television world she once dominated.