ITV will undergo major changes to their Daytime offerings – including Good Morning Britain(Image: RAY BURMISTON)
On Monday, the nearly 500 members of staff across ITV’s roster of beloved daytime shows realised that something was wrong. An email was allegedly sent out by the managing editor of daytime – Emma Gormley – ordering them to attend an emergency meeting the following day, and there was no option to join proceedings remotely. Instead, they were all expected to be there in person, with little notice.
When they arrived at the TC1 studio for the meeting – where hit programs like the Graham Norton Show are filmed – little was reportedly done to relieve their growing anxieties. Instead, what they were met with was chaos, insiders told the Daily Mail, and they quickly realised after sweeping cuts were announced that they had walked into a “bloodbath” – with 220 of them reportedly set to lose their jobs.
Stressed and worried staff weren’t even given the opportunity at the emergency meeting to ask any questions about their professional future – though it is reported ITV is planning on running another meeting, providing the opportunity for staff to do so when management is properly briefed on the answers they can give.
“There will be one team working across what’s left of Lorraine and Loose Women as well as This Morning”, a source told the Mail. “Things are going to be streamlined – and then some.”
They added: “”There is so much panic and so much worry. For such a long time ITV was seen as a safe place to work but, right now, there are very few people who are actually not going to be affected by the cuts.”
Lorraine Kelly attending the Bafta TV Awards 2024(Image: PA Archive)
ITV’s roster of daytime shows including, Loose Women, Good Morning Britain (GMB), This Morning, and Lorraine are all set for a huge overhaul. Good Morning Britain, hosted by Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid, will, from next year, be produced by ITN – ITV’s news provider – with only 38 of the 113 staff on the early morning magazine show being kept on.
Lorraine, which has been on the air for 16 years, has seen some of the most devastating cuts: instead of airing 52 weeks of the year, it will only be on TV screens for 30 weeks, and it has had its running time slashed in half from 60 minutes to half an hour. GMB will have its runtime extended during the weeks Lorraine is not on air, going from 6 am to 10 am.
Loose Woman is also being reduced to 30 weeks a year, back into a “seasonal” schedule that it used to occupy until 2016. Whilst its running time has not been cut, staying at its usual hour, bosses are reported to be displeased by the regular falling out amongst the presenters, and the controversies that come with them.
Loose Women has been cut back to only 30 weeks a year(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
The schedule of This Morning – hosted by Alison Hammond, Cat Deeley, Dermot O’Leary, and Ben Shephard – will remain the same, still on air between 10.30 and Noon on weekdays, but will still be subjected to job cuts if the proposal that the daytime teams merge goes ahead.
A source speaking to the Mail explained that Lorraine Kelly’s absences from hosting her daytime show – leaving Christine Lampard and Ranvir Singh to fill in for her hosting duties regularly – had played a part in the cuts, adding that the bosses at ITV are “besotted” with Susanna Reid of GMB, who they “favour” over Lorraine.
They claim that bosses had to keep arranging cover for the presenter, with Christine and Ranvir luckily able to step in at the right moment. The outlet also reported that she’d be facing a salary cut amid her reduced screentime.
Insiders revealed to The Mirror that the major cuts to Lorraine’s show have left staff fearing that the BAFTA-winning presenter might quit altogether, and they called the new schedule a “kick in the teeth” after the recent ratings for the show had been the highest in the last four years.
“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,” said one source.
GMB’s Susanna Reid is said to be “favoured’ over Lorraine by ITV bosses(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Another 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.”
However, the Mirror has since been told that the rumours swirling around Lorraine Kelly’s suspected departure are “simply not true”. Though insiders at ITV have explained there is a sense of “collective devastation” amongst the daytime staff at the prospect of nearly half of them losing their jobs, with one saying: “The devastation among the staff is palpable after the announcement. To say it blindsided them would be an understatement.”
With GMB being absorbed into ITN, they will move from White City Studios to Gray’s Inn Road, where the rest of the news output is already produced, and one team will make both the magazine-style morning show and ITV News, something that is reported to have been dreamed up by the new director of news and current affairs for ITV – formerly the editor of ITV News – Andrew Dagnell.
A source speaking to the Mail laid some of the blame for these massive job cuts – which aim to save £50 million, which will be reinvested into other departments, like sports and drama – at the door of previous scandals, which they say were badly handled. These include the departure of long-time This Morning host Philip Schofield after it emerged he had engaged in an affair with a younger male colleague, and the cancelling of the Jeremy Kyle Show back in 2019 after the death of Steve Dymond, who is believed to have killed himself only a week after appearing on the show.
Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were once TV’s golden duo(Image: Pixel8000)
An insider told the Mirror that there had been rumours that major change was afoot, particularly when it came to GMB, but it was a total shock to the staff and crews that they would be this wide-ranging. “There had been whispers going round for some time over a merger between ITV News and Good Morning Britain, but no indication that the Daytime shows would be affected.
“We still don’t know how many people are going to lose their jobs, but rumours around 50% of the entire staff from GMB, Lorraine and This Morning will be affected which is staggering. All of the shows are produced by teams of super dedicated professionals, everyone is completely devastated,” they said. The Mirror has approached ITV for comment.
ITV insist that GMB moving under the ITN banner will provide it with extra resources and journalistic expertise and that the show will include more regional news, exclusive investigations and reporting on the day’s news from 2026.
GMB will be produced by ITN(Image: ITV)
Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, has said about the major 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.”
Lygo 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.”
