Lorraine’s staff reportedly fear the beloved presenter could walk away from the show after ITV announced that the programme will now air for just over half of the year
Lorraine Kelly’s staff reportedly fear the beloved host will quit her show after it faced the brunt of ITV’s cuts.
The legendary broadcaster, 65, has been with ITV since the 1980s and has fronted her popular ITV chat show since 2010. However, ITV revealed on Tuesday (May 20) that they were making huge changes to their Daytime TV schedule in a bid to save money.
From January 2026 onwards, Lorraine’s show will air for 30 weeks – just over half of the year – and its runtime has been slashed from an hour to 30 minutes. It will now air on weekdays from 9.30am until 10am – with Good Morning Britain taking this slot for the 22 weeks that it’s not on air.
It’s sparked speculation that Lorraine could walk away from her self-titled chat show. ITV boss Kevin Lygo has admitted the cuts will “impact” staff behind the scenes and that the aim is to generate money that can be re-invested in other types of ITV programmes such as dramas and sporting coverage.
However, it’s claimed Lorraine’s staff are worried that the Scottish star will walk away if the quality of the show “declines”. A source told the Mirror: “There are genuine fears among staff that Lorraine may decide to walk if the quality of the show they are putting out declines.
“It’s hard to see how standards won’t fall…. and there are questions over whether Lorraine will want to be associated with that. Lorraine and her team are perfectionists – it’s why the show is loved by so many.”
The source described the cuts as a “kick in the teeth”, given that ITV was praising the show for achieving its highest ratings for four years. Another insider added: “This is a presenter who has just come back from having an operation, has won a BAFTA, is enjoying record ratings…. and then ITV show their appreciation by yanking her off air half the year.
“Staff are beside themselves, and have been in tears constantly. It doesn’t make any sense given the trajectory the show is on.”
Lorraine recently revealed she was in hospital getting keyhole surgery – to get her ovaries and tubes taken out. The presenter has not yet commented on the changes to her show but has since updated fans, insisting she is “on the mend” after the op.
Loose Women has also been hit by ITV’s schedule shake-up. Like Lorraine, the show will now air for 30 weeks of the year. This is the schedule it occupied for over a decade until 2016.
Explaining the shake up, Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, said: “Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.
“These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever.”
He added: “I recognise that our plans will have an impact on staff off screen in our Daytime production teams, and we will work with ITV Studios and ITN as they manage these changes to produce the shows differently from next year, and support them through this transition.
“Daytime has been a core element of ITV’s schedule for over 40 years and these changes will set ITV up to continue to bring viewers award winning news, views and discussion as we enter our eighth decade.”
ITV added: “The change will form part of a renewed agreement between ITV and ITN, for ITN to produce national, international, London and digital news for ITV for the next five years, with options to extend.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
