LORRAINE Kelly may have extended her ITV contract until the end of next year, but a new telling comment appears to confirm she’s still not thrilled with the direction of her morning show after sweeping daytime cuts across the network.
Earlier this year, the Scottish presenter’s show was halved from a one hour programme to just a 30-minute slot due to a budget overhaul.
The show was also moved from year-round broadcasting to a seasonal schedule, and Lorraine lost the beloved team that worked for the show – with ITV daytime shows now sharing a production team.
This left some fans disappointed they would be seeing less of Lorraine, and rare comments on the switch-up prove she may feel the same.
“I’d love to do an hour’s show again,” she said in a new interview with Woman&Home.
Lorraine continued: “Every time I’m in Tesco, people ask, ‘Why are you not on for an hour?’ At the start of the year I asked myself the same question because it didn’t make any sense and it was really hard because I’d said goodbye to all my team.
“Then I thought, ‘It’s now my half hour of sunshine.’ When I had the one-hour show, because everything was so s****y in the world – and it’s got sh***ier – we decided to try and put good news out there.”
The seasoned presenter put a positive spin on in the interview, saying that she was now “getting a pint into a half-pint pot” in the shortened show.
Lorraine also continued that she has renewed the show contract until next year – despite fears she was set to quit.
While the presenter may be attempting to see the brighter side of things despite her sadness at the cuts – a source tells The Sun that behind the scenes, things aren’t as easy for Lorraine to brush over.
“Lorraine is still absolutely gutted about the way things have panned out,” says our mole.
They continued: “She’s putting on a brave face and getting on with the job because that’s the professional she is, but privately she’s still incredibly disappointed.
“The fact that she mentioned in the Woman & Home interview that fans still ask why the show isn’t an hour was very telling – it’s her way of showing ITV bosses that they made the wrong call.
“Losing half of the running time of her show was bad enough, but losing the team she’d worked alongside for decades and loved like her family, was the biggest blow and, almost a year on, she still struggles with that. She’s not the sort of person to make a public fuss, but that doesn’t mean she’s forgotten it or that she’s happy with how things have turned out.”
“She appreciates TV is an ever-evolving industry and sometimes tough decisions have to be made, but out of all of ITV’s daytime shows, she never understood why her show was cut when Good Morning Britain and This Morning wasn’t – especially when Lorraine got the higher ratings.
“She loved her hour-long format, she loved her team and I don’t think she’s anywhere near as over it as people might imagine.”
Loose Women, This Morning and Lorraine now share production teams rather than dedicated separate staff – a move which was made to cut costs.
Continuing to share how deep it cut, the source said: “She’s a professional and she’ll always go out there and do her job with a smile, but she doesn’t understand the decision making, and she doesn’t believe it has benefited the show.
“Lorraine has given ITV years of her life, she’s hugely popular with viewers, and naturally she’s still questioning why it had to happen this way.”
“She felt hurt that there didn’t seem to be any consideration of making Good Morning Britain or This Morning shorter, and why her programme had to take the hit. It still doesn’t make sense really.”
While Lorraine has signed on for 2027, our mole says it’s unlikely Lorraine will remain on ITV daytime indefinitely.
“She’s not going to make any rash decisions, but I don’t think anyone should assume she’ll be there forever. She’s got options, she’s got a huge audience and she’s got a lot of experience. If the right opportunity came along from a rival broadcaster or streamer, she’d have plenty to think about.”
“Conversations are already happening with her former team around podcasts, books and other projects, including things she could do with Rosie,” says the source of Lorraine’s daughter, who works in journalism and production.
They added: “Lorraine has spent so many years getting up early, doing the show and putting everyone else first. Perhaps this is going to be the moment when she starts thinking about what she wants the next chapter to look like.
“She’s certainly not short of ideas, and I think people would be surprised by just how many possibilities there are for her.”
