ITV's flagship daytime show This Morning will, according to the press release, have "a stronger emphasis on transforming viewers' lives" when it return to screens at the beginning of next month.

Bosses are also keeping their fingers crossed that it will transform their success in the daytime ratings, pinning their hopes on the £1m revamp to boost flagging audiences for the daytime schedules.

Although leading in the daytime ratings war, the BBC is introducing more drama and documentaries into the regular mix of quizzes, game shows, talk shows and lifestyle programmes. This follows ITV, C4 and C5 all earning a ticking off from the Independent Television Commission (ITC) in its report for 2001, which demanded "more imagination" to inject life into their daytime schedules.

ITV's Trisha, C5's Open House With Gloria Hunniford and GMTV's breakfast show were pinpointed as rare daytime successes. The regulator recognised the difficulties posed by Richard and Judy's defection to C4 after 13 years presenting This Morning on ITV, and also noted that viewers were, in general, watching less daytime TV. Overall audiences for daytime television are in decline, according to the ITC report, which says more imagination is needed to reinvigorate the programming and give it far greater diversity.

This Morning's ratings dipped after the departure of Richard and Judy, although have recovered slightly in recent months. The figure of just under a million viewers a day is well below the 1.5m achieved during its heyday. It's cold comfort for ITV that ratings for the married couple's early evening C4 show have been disappointing too.

Coupled with C5 winning the rights to Aussie teatime soap Home And Away from ITV, the commercial station's daytime schedules have been struggling over the past year. ITV controller of daytime Maureen Duffy left amid rumours that she was to blame for Richard and Judy quitting the channel. The couple's recently-published autobiography confirms this, with them saying they found the internal politics very difficult to cope with following her appointment. The programme's makers were against the major changes she wanted to introduce.

Richard and Judy backed the team rather than their new boss in what they saw as plans to take This Morning downmarket. Duffy was replaced by Liam Hamilton as daytime boss at the start of the year in what trade magazine Broadcast says is "widely regarded as one of the most high-pressured jobs in TV". He's a former This Morning producer, who helped launch the show in 1988. His appointment followed talk at ITV Network Centre about splitting the daytime job between various controllers.

Hamilton faces a tough challenge. His channel's daytime share slipped by seven per cent, while BBC1's grew by five per cent year last year. Latest figures show the gap has widened into a ten point lead for the Beeb.

This Morning is seen as the centrepiece of ITV's daytime schedules. Capture a big audience for that and they'll stick around for the rest of the day, is the theory.

Former producer and executive producer Siobhan Richmond has returned to take charge of This Morning for the 15th series. "All the old favourites will be back, plus a fresh new image and a few surprises," she promises.

Some of these new faces, however, seem remarkably unfresh. Such as Philip Schofield, who'll present the show on Fridays, leaving Fern Britton and John Leslie in charge the rest of the week. Paul Ross, who joins as resident showbiz reporter, is hardly a TV newcomer either.

New strands include The Better Lives Club, in which viewers will have access to a panel of experts turned life coaches, as well as a guide to contraception through natural means and IVF, an investigation of buying property abroad and "a look behind the doors of the seriously stylish". It all sounds hideously familiar despite mutterings of "innovative and bold changes" from Granada's daytime controller and This Morning executive prdoucer James Hunt.

There are plans to revive discussion show Loose Women, which Duffy axed two years ago. Initially successful, the programme lost half its audience after the format was changed and the show retitled Live Talk.

Another problem area is daytime soaps. After losing Home And Away, ITV launched a search for two daily dramas to fill the gap. Ratings for both Night And Day, since moved to a once-a-week late night slot, and the redecorated Crossroads were disappointing.

After much speculation, Crossroads has been recommissioned, with filming of 240 new episodes starting in October. New producer Yvon Grace, who was one of the Popstars judges, has plans to make it "a must-see daytime show". That includes axing some characters and introducing new ones including, reportedly, a superbitch and superstud to bring a Dallas feel to the Midlands hotel.

If ITV thinks the BBC is going to rest of its laurels as daytime champion, they're wrong. New BBC daytime head Alison Sharman says she wants to "challenge" viewers. Out go wall-to-wall quizzes, chat and lifestyle shows. In come single dramas and documentaries. The BBC has already had a big daytime success with Doctors, the medical drama starring Christopher Timothy which is now going to be shown year round. Next Sharman is looking at making one-off dramas for the afternoon schedule. A hen weekend and a male Shirley Valentine are two of the subjects under discussion.

Sharman has also signed Nicki Chapman, best known as one of the Pop Idol judges, to present three BBC1 daytime programmes, including an hour-long magazine show that will go up against This Morning. She'll also host Escape To The Sun, about Brits who own second homes in Florida, and the established morning show City Hospital. Not to be outdone, ITV has countered by signing Des O'Connor to host a daytime chat show. The battle for daytime viewers is clearly going to get tougher this autumn.

* This Morning returns to ITV on September