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EXCLUSIVE: Lorraine Kelly breaks silence on future of ITV show - 'it's really heartbreaking'

ITV legend Lorraine Kelly breaks silence about the ITV cuts to her morning show as she says her first reaction was to try and save as many jobs as possible

[Lorraine Kelly ]

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Lorraine Kelly opens up about cuts (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

TV presenter Lorraine Kelly has described the cuts to her show as heartbreaking as she opened up for the first time about her show being slashed. The star also vowed to continue on her self-titled programme amid previous speculation she was prepared to walk away.

She said: I dont see me going anywhere until people get fed up, you know? Until people say, Ive had enough of that one. Speaking about the cuts which sees her show cut from an hour to 30 minutes and only airing for 30 weeks out of 52, she said her first thought was for her team affected.

She admits: Its really heartbreaking to split up the team, a lot of my team have been with me for more than 20 years and theyre my friends. Ive grown up with them. They were babies when they started with me and now theyve got babies of their own.

The cuts formed part of a huge ITV Daytime overhaul with 220 out of 450 jobs in daytime at risk. This was despite the shows reputation for ground-breaking campaigns such as Change + Check, as well as recently amassing its highest ratings for four years under much-admired editor Victoria Kennedy.

[Lorraine Kelly]

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Huge hit: Lorraine on well-loved show(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

She said her first focus was to ensure that as many jobs were saved as possible. To be totally honest with you, the main focus for me was to save as many jobs as possible. And I know that the spotlight is probably on the fact that all your shows are going to be shorter and its going to be less time. And thats fine. But the main thing for me was how many jobs can we save?

Lorraine said she was pleased that a lot of the team had since been redeployed on other shows. She added: Its been difficult with the cuts, its been hard. Im a lot happier about it now but it was honestly and genuinely all about the team. I wasn't annoyed or angry about this for me..it was about the team.

But she said the plans have NOT accelerated any plans to retire. Absolutely not. I am going to be toddling off that show in my Zimmer frame and even then, Ill be coming in.I look at people like Janet Street Porter, Gloria Hunniford, still doing Loose Women, I mean, Glorias in her 80s, you look at Angela Rippon, you look at these astonishing women who are just getting into their stride in their 70s and 80s, and I look at them and I think, Yep, Im still going to be there.

[Lorraine Kelly ]

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No plans to retire: Lorraine (Image: David Fisher/Shutterstock)

However she said that she had an inkling that cuts were on the way. It was kind of like, we sort of had an inkling that things were going to change, she says. Because weve made a lot of cuts, and weve been trying really hard to make sure that because we dont have that much money, we actually punch way above our weight for the quality of guests that we get on. I mean, Ive just been talking to George Clooney (for his new film Jay Kelly), for Gods sake. He wanted to talk to me.

She said she was currently on a years contract - but denied reports she would leave at the end of it. Were all freelancers. Were all just on a years contract," she said.

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