Dan Walker lauded by fans as he makes first appearance on Channel 5 News

Dan Walker made his Channel 5 at 5 News debut on Monday evening, after leaving his anchoring role on BBC Breakfast, which he had held for six years.

The presenter, 45, was lauded by fans as he presented live from Downing Street, in his new role alongside Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije, who hosted from the studio.

Rushing to Twitter to air their thoughts, some viewers said he was ‘excellent’ while others claimed they switched off immediately after tuning in.

‘So nice to see you again!’ Dan Walker was lauded by fans as he makes first appearance on Channel 5 News… after leaving six-year role on BBC Breakfast

They wrote: ‘Woot woot and you are BACK! So nice to see you again mate. Good luck,’ and, ‘Excellent! Good luck, what a day to start!’

A third added: ‘Good luck in your new job,’ while another joked, ‘Seeing @mrdanwalker on T.V. at 5.00pm instead of 6.00am is a massive head wobble!’

‘Great to see @mrdanwalker presenting @channel5_tv news,’ You’re smashing it.’

‘Don’t normally watch news @ 5 but turned over to see how you’re doing – and you’re doing great. We’ll done. Still miss you on bbc breakfast.’

Stern: The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant certainly looked serious during his hosting duties

Meanwhile, a select few panned his appearance, writing: ‘Sorry Dan Walker. Tuned in but then out as soon as you talked about the “show” Wanted & hoped for real news programme. Not Ch 5 magazine format.’

Others wrote: Dan Walker on #5news are we watching BBC breakfast?’

Dan marked his first day on his new Channel 5 job by appearing on Good Morning Britain in a brief appearance which saw him jokingly storm off the set.

Support: Rushing to Twitter to air their thoughts, some viewers said he was ‘excellent’

Oh no! Meanwhile, others claimed they switched off immediately after tuning in

He bid farewell to BBC Breakfast after six years at the helm and will begin his new role Channel 5’s evening bulleting with Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije at 5pm on Monday.

And Dan marked the first day of his new job with an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday, where he spoke about leaving breakfast TV behind him.

But Dan was also quizzed about his TV rival and former GMB host Piers Morgan by Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, and pretended to storm off the show in a lighthearted dig at the broadcaster, 57. 

Jibe: Dan marked his first day on his new Channel 5 job by appearing on Good Morning Britain in a brief appearance which saw him jokingly storm off the set (pictured)

Susanna asked him: ‘Would you have come on this show when the former occupant of Richard’s seat was on? Could you and Piers Morgan be in a studio together?’

To which he replied: ‘Of course we could. You know what he’s like. He’s a troublemaker. But he’s good to spend time with.’

But at the end of the interview, Dan jokingly pretended to storm out of the studio, mirroring when Piers walked off set last year after a fierce debate with Alex Beresford.

Tense: Piers quit as GMB host following his claims that he didn’t ‘believe a word’ Meghan Markle said, leading to a tense exchange with Alex which saw Piers (pictured) storm off 

Tension: Dan was also quizzed about his TV rival and former GMB host Piers Morgan by Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley 

Piers quit the show following his claims that he didn’t ‘believe a word’ Meghan Markle said during her Oprah Winfrey interview, leading to a tense exchange in which Alex accused Piers of unfairly ‘trashing’ Meghan, and branded him ‘diabolical’.

In a lighthearted jibe at the moment, Dan got up out of his seat with his cup of tea still in hand and walked off the set, before promoting his new show on the way out the door.

‘See you later, see you at 5 o’clock on Channel 5,’ he said.

Earlier in the interview, Dan had spoken about moving away from breakfast TV to his new evening presenting gig, and admitted he was still adjusting to not waking up in the middle of the night for work.

‘I’m still adjusting to normal hours, I’m still getting up in the middle of the night occasionally,’ he explained.

Move: Earlier, Dan had spoken about moving away from breakfast TV to his new presenting gig, and admitted he was still adjusting to not waking up in the middle of the night for work 

The former Strictly Come Dancing star said his favourite thing about working on BBC Breakfast was the people he got to work with, while the worst thing was talking about serious subject matter.

‘The best thing is the people you get to work with, I love relationships in telly, you need to sit next to someone you like and support,’ he said.

‘The worst thing is those days where you have to talk about stuff that’s horrible.’

Following his appearance on GMB, which only saw him talk for a matter of minutes, viewers took to Twitter to describe it as the ‘shortest interview ever’.

Brief: Following his appearance on the show, which only saw him appear for a matter of minutes, viewers took to Twitter and described it as the ‘shortest interview ever’

One person commented: ‘They just literally gave Dan two minutes – bet he’s glad he got up early for that!’

While another confused viewer tweeted: ‘What happened to Dan Walker?’

On Sunday, Dan took to social media to admit that he was beginning his Channel 5 job in a ‘strange way’ by first appearing as a guest on GMB.

He tweeted: ‘First day of my new TV life tomorrow and it will start in a very strange way… on @GMB.

‘See you in the morning with @susannareid100 (thankfully not too early) and than at 5, on 5 PS I still love you @sallynugent.’

Fresh start: On Sunday, Dan took to social media to admit that he was beginning his Channel 5 job in a ‘strange way’ by first appearing as a guest on GMB

Dan recently left BBC Breakfast to become the lead anchor on 5 News, which will see him reportedly pocket £1.5million to host it’s nightly news programme. 

He made the announcement last month on the Jeremy Vine Show and posted a short video to his Twitter with the caption: ‘Here we go. See you next Monday at 5, on 5.’

In the clip, Walker said: ‘It’s great to be joining Channel 5, but news is never about who sits in the chair. It’s the stories that matter most from a team you can trust.’ 

The star was one of the BBC’s highest-paid stars, earning £295,000 a year to host their Breakfast show.

New job: The presenter, 45, bid farewell to BBC Breakfast after six years at the helm and will begin his new role Channel 5’s evening bulleting with Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije on Monday 

As well as 5 News anchor, his role will include fronting a range of brand-new non-news programming for Channel 5 for the 5.2million viewers tuning in every week.

He will replace Sian Willams who decided to leave her daily news presenting role to take up ‘more wide-ranging opportunities’.

When Dan announced his decision to leave the BBC last month, he said: ‘I’m really excited, but this has also been a massive decision for me, because I love Breakfast, I love working alongside Sally [Nugent], and I love the team there.

‘But Channel 5 came with big ambitions, big plans, and I don’t think opportunities like this come around very often, and I can’t wait.’

Presenter: The star was one of the BBC’s highest-paid stars, earning £295,000 a year to host their Breakfast show