I remember in 2010, Peter Mitchell took long service leave for six weeks, starting from the day of his 50th birthday (June 14), with Jennifer Keyte filling in for that period (and I think Rebecca Maddern would’ve deputised for Keyte on weekends).
I wonder how Seven fared in the ratings during this period, though I also know around this time Nine trialled Tony Jones in their anchor’s chair with Peter Hitchener taking a week or two off, instead of having then-weekend anchor Jo Hall deputise as would’ve been the case normally.
That year, Seven News won in the Melbourne market with 26/40 weeks.