Exclusive: 'Changes to my show were painful': Lorraine Kelly talks TV, losing her dad and her new book
The daytime TV icon reveals how ITV budget cuts were challenging at first, but have had a surprisingly positive impact on her career
Lucy Wigley
Everyone knows Lorraine Kelly as the bubbly, extrovert morning presenter who has been on our screens for more than 40 years.
And sitting down to chat with her, she is exactly as she appears on the ‘telly’, as she calls it. Fun, bright and interesting, nothing is off limits.
But 2026 hasn’t been easy on Lorraine, 66. Earlier this year, she lost her father John, just as changes to her morning TV show hit - meaning it was cut from an hour to 30 minutes and will only air for 30 weeks of the year. She admits it was a ‘difficult time’.
But, with the regime on ITV now in place, it means she has had time to focus on her other passion - writing. And of course spending time with her husband Steve, daughter Rosie and granddaughter Billie.
We caught up with her to talk all about it with this exclusive interview.
Hi Lorraine! Congratulations on your new book! How does it feel to have your second novel, The Island Secret, published?
Lorraine: It’s so interesting and so different. When you do live telly, off it goes - you do it and it’s away. But with a book there’s something very permanent about that. It’s really lovely to see it, feel it, and see it in shops! One time I was in the airport and a lady was reading it.
Did she spot you?
Lorraine: No, she didn’t. I was going to go over but I was a bit shy! There is something really special about that and I think even if you wrote 25 books, you’d never get used to that feeling of being able to hold something in your hand.
You now have regular breaks from filming Lorraine throughout the year - how has that been?
Lorraine: I must admit, at the start of the year when all the changes were being made, they cut my show to half an hour and half a year, it wasn’t me wanting to have my fat face on the television, it wasn’t that, it was that an awful lot of my team were made redundant. That was really hard.
Are you still in touch with them?
Lorraine: Yes! Luckily, a lot of them have been reemployed, some have moved to This Morning which is great and we’re all in touch. That’s why it was so painful, you know, because we were all so close.
I had folks who worked with me from when they were teenagers into their 30s, and then they had babies of their own. And then my dad died in January, which was very difficult.
It comes to us all, sadly. So that was quite a difficult time. But actually, I thought to myself, ‘This is the best job in telly,’ Because you get to do the job you love, but you’ve got all this time to do other things.
I did a travel show for Channel 4. Primarily it will be writing, of course, but you’ve got these chunks of time off and you get to do what you love. There’s no conflict.
Do you have a plan for the future?
Lorraine: Not really. I’m not very good at that. With writing, the process is new to me. With TV, you could be going on air and we think, ‘Oh let’s do that’ and you can change things. Obviously with publishing it takes a lot longer.
It can take 18 months from the idea until it’s out, so I want to do more of the books. But I don’t ever see myself totally retiring. I could never retire entirely. There might come the day when people have had enough, it’s been 102 years.
But I can’t imagine myself not working. Things will change, things will have to change, people will have to adapt and budgets aren’t as big as they were but we’re still here and I think we’ll still be here for a wee while.
You’re granddaughter Billie is almost two - how has becoming a grandparent changed you?
Lorraine: It does make you realise, it might sound weird, but I want to be as healthy I can for as long as I can. I’m very lucky at my age and I look at my grandmother, living into her 90s, and she was fine mentally and physically.
The time that I have, and I hope it’s a long time, I need to make the most of it. And I want to spend as much time with her as I possibly can.
Is there a dream TV show you’d love to do?
Lorraine: I want to do Lorraine Unleashed. On Channel 4, or Channel 5, wherever, Lorraine Unleashed Live, 11pm at night, and you could get away with murder. A right good laugh.
I want people to have a right good old belly laugh. Not snidey, but cheeky and naughty. I’d love to do that. A version of my show where we went feral! I think it would be funny. And showcase young comedians who are breaking through. It would be fun.
A version of this article first appeared in Woman magazine - on sale now
