Lorraine Kelly has announced that she'll be spending an extended period away from our TV screens. The star thanked fans for "sticking with me" as she revealed that she was due to take seven weeks off air due to the cuts made to her show Lorraine by ITV.
In a video shared to Instagram, Lorraine, 66, initially explained that she had been off sick last week, meaning that Ben Shepherd and Christine Lampard were forced to stand in to host her morning show on Thursday and Friday, which is now broadcast from 9:30am and 10am. She said: "I am feeling a whole lot better.
"But this has been a bad lurgy. If you're going through it yourself, you have my sympathy. It's a tough one. But I am getting there." The presenter then continued: "I will be off for a good few weeks. Not because I am not well, but because of course the changes to the show.
"We now do 30 weeks a year. So I won't see you for a wee while, but I want to thank you for sticking with me through all the changes. I hope to see you when I am back on air. I never take it for granted and I really, really, really appreciate you tuning in. Thanks so so much."
Lorraine also reiterated her feelings in the caption of the post: "THANK YOU for sticking with me through all of the changes to the show and for your kind messages. I will be back soon and really looking forward to your company. Thanks to my top team and crew and all of the lovely guests who come on @lorraine to share their stories. I will miss you but see you real soon."
New schedule
Since January, Lorraine has been reduced from an hour to just 30 minutes - meaning it is broadcast from 9.30am to 10am on weekdays - and it will only be on air for 30 weeks of the year. Last month, the star revealed a surprising pivot towards presenting travel shows, including fronting the new three-part Channel 4 series Norwegian Odyssey, which was released in late January.
Her latest social media update had received more than 22,000 'likes'. Among those to share messages of support were Strictly's Amy Dowden who wrote "sending all the love lovely lady @lorraine missed you this morning xxxx" and Good Morning Britain's Susanna Reid who shared "get well soon @lorrainekellysmith and loads of love".
© Dave J Hogan/Getty ImagesLorraine has been on screen for almost 40 years. The mother-of-one - who has a daughter Rosie, 31, with her husband Steve Smith - first came to attention while reporting on the Pan Am disaster in Lockerbie in 1988, before helping to launch GMTV in 1993 and then Lorraine in 2010.
In November, Lorraine shared her thoughts on the new programming shake-up on BBC 4's Desert Island Discs with Lauren Laverne. She said: "I was disappointed, of course I was. This is the world that we live in now. Things have to change, I mean, I've been through so many regime changes in my life."
