Amazing, thank you so much!
I will try this and report back ASAP. I really appreciate your help!
Update:
Thanks so much - this was exactly it.
Took it out and it stopped the heating from setting off instantly, but the heating wouldn't switch on at all. Ultimately was about to give up, then...
Thanks for your response-
I was with him for his entire visit and it was quite brief (emergency plumber as our heating turned off) - he didn't take the thermostat off the wall at all so definitely not joined there, and didn't take the programmer off either. Only played around with the two port...
Note: programmer has been bypassed, not the thermostat
Plumber came and bypassed the programmer as it was faulty, so he wired the heating to go on as soon as boiler is switched on.
I've now replaced the programmer and need to fix the wiring back to how it was. The programmer is still powered...