Staff on Lorraine fear its much-loved host might choose to quit if the standard of the show falls due to sweeping ITV cuts – as the channel’s employees are left shell-shocked and in tears over the news
Staff on Lorraine fear its much-loved host could quit the show after it bore the brunt of massive ITV cuts.
The presenter has been left devastated by the scale of job losses set to hit the programme which is set to be slashed from an hour to 30minutes. It will also now only air for 30 weeks out of 52.
ITV boss Kevin Lygo has insisted that presenters will remain the same across all affected programmes.
But a source 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.”
The source said the move was a “kick in the teeth” especially given ITV was crowing this week about the show amassing its highest ratings for four years.
A second insider 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.”
Altogether, ITV is slashing 220 jobs, as it aims for cost savings of up to £50million.
Insiders reported “collective devastation” after being ordered to a meeting of all daytime staff yesterday to be told that almost half of the 450 jobs in ITV Daytime were being cut.
The overhaul will see the money saved being “reinvested” into other programming with a focus on drama, sport, entertainment and reality programming.
From January 2026, Loose Women will also adopt a “seasonal” schedule of 30 weeks a year, a loss of more than 10 weeks on the current schedule but a return to the pattern it held for more than a decade before 2016.
ITV’s news provider ITN is to take over production of Good Morning Britain from next year as part of the major revamp of the channel’s long-running daytime brands. GMB will be re-homed within ITN’s Gray’s Inn Road headquarters and be extended by half an hour for 30 weeks of the year (6am – 9.30am), and by an hour for the remaining 22 weeks when Lorraine is now off air (6am – 10am).
The changes aim to allow GMB to benefit from “the journalistic and production resources already in place for national news bulletins”. The extra hours each week will be filled with extra regional news, investigations and analysis of the biggest stories of the day.
Staff reacted with widespread dismay to the huge number of job cuts. The current Good Morning Britain team was particularly hard hit – of the 133 employees who currently make the early-bird magazine show, hosted by Susanna Reid, Richard Madeley and Ed Balls, just 38 will make the move to ITN.
An insider said: “The devastation among the staff is palpable after the announcement. To say it blindsided them would be an understatement.
“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.”
In terms of scheduling, This Morning has emerged unscathed and will remain in its 10am -12.30pm slot on weekdays. Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women, all made by ITV Studios, will move collectively to new studios within central London.
Presenter Lorraine, who last year celebrated 40 years in broadcasting and was awarded a special Bafta to mark the milestone, will now present her shorter show for five days a week, rather than four. Her regular stand-ins, Christine Lampard and Ranvir Singh, will provide holiday cover and will “remain as part of the ITV Daytime family”. Ranvir also hosts GMB while Christine does stints on Loose Women.
ITV media and entertainment managing director Kevin Lygo said that the aim was to save cash amid huge hikes in costs without losing any of the on-air talent. “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.”
In a statement, ITV said the money saved would help to fund dramas like Mr Bates vs The Post Office and coverage of the biggest sporting events like next year’s football World Cup, plus reality and entertainment shows.
Lygo said that the changes would future-proof the much-loved daytime brands for decades to come. “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.”
The changes will form part of a renewed five-year deal between ITV and ITN national, international, London and digital news provision.
They come just a few months after a major overhaul of the channel’s soaps, which will each move to a five-nights a week scheduling model from January.
In February it was announced that both Coronation Street and Emmerdale will be reduced by an hour a week to create a soap “power hour” every weeknight – but also to save money. One year ago, ITV CEO Carolyn McCall announced 200 redundancies would be made from departments including commercial, technology and operations.
ITV’s budget for programme-making has been steady at around £1.3bn for a number of years.