Lorraine Kelly has shared her thoughts about the “seismic” changes set to be made to her ITV daytime show, Lorraine, in the new year. First announced back in May, ITV confirmed that Lorraine will be shortened by 30 minutes and move to a “seasonal basis”. The show will now air for 30 weeks of the year, while Good Morning Britain will fill the additional slot from 9 am to 10 am for the remaining 22 weeks. During the 30 weeks Lorraine is on air, the broadcaster will front the show every weekday, including Fridays – which are usually hosted by Christine Lampard and Ranvir Singh. The decision follows ITV’s announcement of around 220 job cuts across its daytime division, affecting Loose Women, This Morning and Good Morning Britain. According to Deadline, the changes could see around half of the 450 employees working across ITV’s daytime output facing redundancy.
This news came as a shock to many Lorraine viewers, many of whom have been following the show since its inception in 2010. The programme even saw record-breaking viewership numbers in February, March and April of this year, with ITV declaring: “Lorraine reaches 1.1M people every day and 2.7M people every week.” While the changes are disappointing for many within the industry, they are said to be aimed at ensuring more “streaming-friendly content, including drama and sport,” according to Deadline.
Lorraine Kelly shares her thoughts
Speaking on BBC 4’s Desert Island Discs with Lauren Laverne, Lorraine reflected on the shake-up to her long-running show, which she has presented since 2010. “I was disappointed, of course I was,” she shared. “This is the world that we live in now. Things have to change, I mean, I’ve been through so many regime changes in my life.
“For me, this is just another one, but it’s seismic,” she continued. “The thing that has upset me the most is the fact that we’ve got this great team, and obviously, that’s not going to be in place next year because jobs will go. Hopefully, I’ll be able to hang on to some of these amazing people – that’s my aim. It’s very, very sad. It really is.”
What’s changing on Lorraine?
From January 2026, Lorraine will be cut from an hour to 30 minutes. Good Morning Britain will then extend its runtime by half an hour to fill the gap, running from 6 am to 9.30 am every weekday.
At the moment, Lorraine airs for almost the entire year, but under the new plan, the show will only broadcast for 30 weeks annually. During the 22 weeks it’s off-air, Good Morning Britain will continue until 10 am.
What’s happening to the other ITV daytime shows?
Like Lorraine, Loose Women will also undergo change. While it will remain in its current time slot – 12.30 pm to 1.30 pm – it will only air for 30 weeks of the year. This Morning, which is hosted by Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, will continue airing from 10 am to 12.30 pm on weekdays for the full year. Elsewhere, ITV’s long-running soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale will see their combined airtime reduced by one hour each week.
© ITVWhat has ITV said about the changes?
When the changes were first announced, Kevin Lygo, managing director of ITV’s media and entertainment division, told the BBC: “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 as 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.”
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