Lorraine Kelly was back on her ITV show today, just hours after news broke that her ITV daytime show would be cut in half and would only air 30 weeks of the year

Lorraine Kelly made her return to her show today after ITV announced huge cuts. The presenter’s show normally airs every day from 9am and 10am each day, with guest hosts sometimes standing in for Lorraine.

However, ITV have now announced that Lorraine’s show will just air between 9.30 and 10am each day for 30 weeks of the year, in line with other seasonal presenters. As a result Good Morning Britain will be extended until 9.30am each day and when Lorraine is not on air, the show will be extended until 10am with This Morning airing after in its usual slot.

Sources tell The Mirror that there are real fears Lorraine could quit. An insider said: “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.”

Lorraine Kelly was back on her ITV show today ( 
Image:
ITV)

Another source told us: “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.”

On her show this morning, Lorraine was interviewing Remember Monday fresh from their Eurovision performance alongside a special look behind-the-scenes at the Chelsea Flower Show and discussing the Marks & Spencer data leak.

Lorraine hosts her show from 9am to 10am each day ( 
Image:
Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
As she opened the show, she quickly crossed over to Ross King to chat about the Time100 most influential philanthropists, including David Beckham, who was on the list for his charitable offerings. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle didn’t make the list this time, whilst they also discussed how Meghan had been chatting about motherhood on her podcast.

Lorraine returned to screens this week after undergoing an operation. Speaking on her show, she shared: “What happened was, do you remember I told you back in January, I was coming back from India and on the flight I had terrible, terrible pain.

“It was a cyst that had burst, an ovarian cyst that had burst. There was a bit of bleeding and when I say discomfort, you know I’m stoic but it was horrible. I went to see Mr Raafat, we had a scan and did all of that and he said on the other side there is an ovary that looks a bit dodgy, best to just take it out, best to just get rid of it.”

Lorraine’s show has now been cut to air for just half an hour each day, and only for 30 weeks of the year ( 
Image:
Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)ITV’s Good Morning Britain will be extended by half an hour every day whilst This Morning will remain the same. Loose Women will air between 12.30pm and 1.30pm like usual but will only air for 30 weeks of the year like Lorraine.

Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, explained of the huge changes: “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. I recognise that our plans will have an impact on staff off screen in our Daytime production teams.”