Lorraine Kelly’s next career move has sparked huge attention amid claims she could be preparing to leave ITV after 43 years, with fans now wondering what pushed the daytime TV favourite toward such a major decision and what her next chapter might look like away from the channel. Details are in the comments.
Lorraine Kelly is reportedly planning to leave ITV after 43 years
Lorraine Kelly is rumoured to be leaving ITV next year when her current contract ends (Image: ITV)
Presenter Lorraine Kelly’s next career move has been unveiled following reports that she is set to depart ITV after 43 years with the channel. The 66-year-old breakfast television presenter’s contract is understood to be expiring next year, and “she hasn’t signed a new one”.
This follows the decision to cut her programme from an hour to just 30 minutes in January, as more than 220 jobs were slashed across ITV’s daytime output, including Lorraine, Good Morning Britain, This Morning and Loose Women.
Among those who lost their positions were key members of Lorraine’s trusted team, whom she had worked alongside for years – something she is said to have been “appalled” by. It is also claimed that “the show hasn’t been the same since”.
The television stalwart is now reportedly “secretly planning her next big project away from ITV” for the first time in her four-decade career, with two fresh ventures already said to be in the pipeline.
The first is a new YouTube show – with claims that Lorraine is keen to replicate the success of her friend and former Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan’s series Uncensored, which commands a global audience of millions, reports The Mirror.
The second is a podcast alongside her daughter Rosie, 31, who recently published a book entitled Mother to Mother following the arrival of her first child, Billie, who will turn two in August.
The podcast is believed to be in “advanced planning stages”, sharing the same title as Rosie’s book. She would co-host it with her well-known mother and welcome celebrity mums as guests, according to reports.
A source told The Sun: “Lorraine is older now, but she’s far from retirement – she would just like more time to spend at home with daughter Rosie and granddaughter Billie without the pressure and commitment of travelling to London for just half an hour on screen.
“Secretly, she would like to take her format and turn it into an online interview format, whether that’s a video podcast or a YouTube series, where her fans can tune in whenever they like. One of the other ideas they have, that one of Lorraine’s former team is helping with, is that Lorraine joins Rosie for a new podcast called Mother To Mother, after the success of Rosie’s book.
Lorraine is said to be hosting a new podcast with daughter Rosie (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
“She would have more viewers if she took her show online and turned it into a podcast – and more money from sponsorship and brand deals. Lorraine’s social following is huge, so the audience is already there, too. Anything she does like this will be a huge success. There’s no doubt about it.”
The source suggests Lorraine has been seeking guidance from longstanding friend Piers and is keen to reunite her former team, with whom she remains “extremely close”.
The Scotland-based presenter is also understood to relish the prospect of becoming her own boss and recording the programme herself from home at her own pace. The Mirror has contacted Lorraine for a statement regarding this story.
However, a representative has reportedly maintained she remains content with her current programme at ITV. They told The Sun: “Lorraine has no plans to move away from her show, and any podcast activities would be part of a portfolio, as we see with so many other top broadcasters – complementary to her show, which remains her absolute priority.”
