TV star Richard in pneumonia battle

Mr Whiteley's condition was said to be stable after he was rushed into hospital on Friday after becoming ill at his home in Burley Woodhead, near Ilkley.

The hospital was expected to be inundated with cards and flowers from well-wishers after Yorkshire Television bosses confirmed that the 61-year-old presenter, who was born in Baildon, had been admitted.

His long-term partner Kathryn Apanowicz was at his bedside.

Carol Vorderman, Mr Whiteley's co-presenter on the popular long-running Channel 4 quiz show Countdown, has been informed about the situation.

Filming has been cancelled but the show is pre-recorded and will continue its current run until July.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Television, which makes Countdown, said: "We can confirm Mr Whiteley has been taken ill and has got pneumonia.

"He is currently in a stable condition in hospital.

"All his colleagues and friends wish him well and hope he will soon be back behind the Countdown desk."

She added that Mr Whiteley was "very, very popular" with viewers.

Mr Whiteley, chairman of the board of governors at Giggleswick School near Settle in North Yorkshire, has been presenting the quiz show since 1982, when it was the first show broadcast on Channel 4.

The programme was originally planned to run for five weeks but it now has regular viewing figures of four million and enjoys cult status.

In November last year Mr Whiteley was honoured with an OBE from the Queen, who is said to be a fan of the programme, as was the late Queen Mother.

Last month he took part in a Ready Steady Cook-style event to launch the three-day Dales Festival of Food and Drink at Leyburn.

Earlier this year he won the BBC Celebrity Star Spell and clinched a first prize of £10,000.

He gave the money to the Cystic Fibrosis Society in memory of his niece Alexander Stewart, a former pupil at the Girls Grammar School, Bradford, who died from the condition aged just 29.

The YTV spokesman said Countdown ran over two series a year. She said filming of the first series had been completed.

There is no indication yet as to when Mr Whiteley may be discharged from hospital, the spokesman said.

Pneumonia is an infection which causes the lungs to fill and harden, causing breathing problems.