Annabel Croft will pay tribute to late husband Mel Coleman by traveling North Yorkshire in a campervan for a new This Morning role – after the couple had planned to explore the UK in a converted van before his death

Annabel Croft will travel around North Yorkshire in a camper van as a tribute to her late husband Mel Coleman for a new episode of This Morning.

The former tennis star, 57, will present a three-part series on the ITV show called Camper Vannabel, in which she will explore North Yorkshire.

Annabel said the series is dedicated to her husband Mel as the couple had enjoyed exploring the UK in the motorhome and she wants to carry on that tradition.

Annabel married yachtsman Mel, 60, in 1992 but he tragically died in May 2023 – eight weeks after being diagnosed with stage 3 cancer.

About the new series, Annabel told The mirror: ‘A few years ago my late husband Mel and I converted an old van with the idea of ​​exploring the best of Britain together.

Annabel married yachtsman Mel, 60, in 1992 but he tragically died in May 2023 – eight weeks after being diagnosed with stage 3 cancer (pictured in

‘Life doesn’t always work out the way you plan and although I have some wonderful memories of us in Vannabel, I want to continue what we started and spend more time discovering Britain.’

She added: “Strap in because we’re going off-grid from coastlines to landscapes, so join Vannabel and I for our journey of discovery.”

Annabel and Mel had three children, two daughters, Amber, 27, and Lily, 24, and a son, Charlie, 26.

Annabel told Women & Home Magazine in February that her own grief after the loss of her husband Mel has left her feeling like ‘nothing matters anymore’.

The former Strictly star said the grief she felt for her husband was ‘terrible’.

Annabel admitted that competing in Strictly Come Dancing distracted her from the ‘terrible’ time at home after Mel’s death.

She told the publication: ‘I’ve done lots of extraordinary things in my career but Strictly is different… A distraction at this terrible time in our family’s life was quite positive.

‘I didn’t do everything perfectly, but after everything we’ve been through, I thought, ‘does it really matter?’ Terrible things happen in life, so taking a few steps wrong would never be a big deal.

In the new series, Annabel told The Mirror: ‘A few years ago my late husband Mel and I converted an old van with the idea of ​​exploring the best of Britain together’ (pictured in 2021)

Annabel and Mel had three children, two daughters, Amber, 27, and Lily, 24, and a son, Charlie, 26 (pictured in 2004)

Annabel told Women & Home Magazine in February that her own grief following the loss of her husband Mel has left her feeling like “nothing matters anymore” (pictured in 2010)

‘Nothing matters anymore. Nothing matters, actually. We’re all still trying to process it all.’

Mel was a successful investment banker who competed in the America’s Cup and more recently ran a tennis school with his wife.

He was known for his perfect health and, like Annabel, enjoyed an active outdoor lifestyle.

After the Covid lockdowns, the two converted an old van into a mobile home and took it around the country and into Europe on walking holidays.

Announcing her death in May 2023, she said: ‘My beloved husband Mel passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning after a short battle with cancer. My family and I are completely devastated and are asking for privacy at this very sad time.’

Annabel has previously revealed that her path crossed Mel’s completely by chance when she was at a crisis point.

At 21, she was at the US Open and had a pep talk from fellow player John Newcombe, who suggested she think about what she wanted to do with her life as she seemed unhappy.

She had been on the tennis tour for almost six years and was lonely, stressed and lost from the demands of incessant competition.

Former Strictly star said the grief she felt for her husband was ‘terrible’ (pictured at their wedding)

Mel was a successful investment banker who competed in the America’s Cup and more recently ran a tennis school with his wife (pictured in 1996)

‘When we were having this chat I got a text from my mum saying that the BBC production office in Belfast asked if I would be interested in filming a program about yacht racing.

‘I’d never been on a yacht before but it ended up being me, Eamonn Holmes and Peter Skellern going to Guernsey to shoot a program where we learned to sail a yacht.

‘Mel, who had just returned from Australia after the America’s Cup, was one of the yachtsmen and that’s how we met.

‘After a day of filming we all went to the pub and had dinner – it sounds weird but I’d never really done that – and I remember thinking, oh my god this is really fun and normal and I want to have some more of this rather than getting up and putting on tracksuits and stressing about whether my backhand is working today.’

They married six years later.