5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
'I've worked with Lorraine for three decades this is what she's like off-screen'
Dr Hilary Jones has worked with Lorraine Kelly on ITV for over 35 years, and has shared what the Scottish presenter is really like behind the scenes after they both released books
ITV's Dr Hilary Jones has opened up about his long-standing colleague Lorraine Kelly, sharing insights into their 35-year working relationship and the Scottish presenter's character.
The health expert, who is celebrating the release of his third novel Under Darkening Skies, spoke candidly about their mutual appreciation for each other's written work and gave a glimpse into what it's like to work with Lorraine off-air.
In an exclusive conversation with he disclosed: "Oh, she's lovely. Lorraine - people often say, 'What is Lorraine really like?' and I say she's exactly as she comes across.
"She's engaging, she's interested in people, she's genuine, and she's great fun. I've worked with her for over 35 years, and she's written her books as well, so we've read each other's books."
It's not just Lorraine who Dr Hilary has praised as he commented: "Of course, people like Shaun Wallace-I've come across on The Chase-a lovely guy-very well read. I read his book as well."
Under Darkening Skies will hit the shelves on July 31st, as reported by the Express.
These revelations from Dr Hilary emerge amidst ITV's announcement of significant scheduling changes, including alterations to the broadcast frequency of Lorraine's show.
Starting from 2026, Lorraine will air for only 30 weeks per year, a change that will also affect Loose Women.
Lorraine's airtime is set to be halved, with Good Morning Britain extending by an extra half-hour ending at 9:30am.
In the new schedule, on days without Lorraine, GMB will broadcast from 6am until 10am.
Kevin Lygo, director of ITV's media and entertainment division, shared his thoughts on the 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, 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."
