ITV Axes Daytime Icons: Cost-Cutting Leaves Lorraine’s Future in Jeopardy

Paul Riverbank, 12/29/2025ITV's cost-saving overhaul ends Christine Lampard’s long run on "Lorraine" and trims key roles, signaling turbulent times ahead for beloved daytime TV as financial realities reshape familiar screens.

Lampard’s departure from her regular post as the show’s reliable stand-in coincides with some sharp cuts from ITV. The channel, which has dominated British mornings for decades, is now trimming *Lorraine* to just thirty minutes a day. And that isn’t year-round: the broadcast will appear about thirty weeks each year, recalibrated with a surgeon’s precision. Lampard, always gracious, turned to Instagram to make it official—her farewell post brimming not with bitterness but the warmth of someone truly grateful for her run. “We’ve laughed, lunched and learnt so much,” she wrote, a gentle nod to the peculiar intimacy of life in live television.

But the news isn’t just about Lampard, or even Lorraine Kelly, who remains at the centre of the show. At its core, this signals a deeper unease across ITV and, frankly, most of the British TV landscape. Budgets are tight. Competition from streaming giants isn’t just theoretical now. Even once-untouchable programmes are being forced to re-examine every expense.

ITV’s programming chief Kevin Lygo tried to put a positive spin on the decisions. He argued that paring back *Lorraine* and other daytime mainstays might sound drastic, but, the logic goes, it frees up money for more “news, debate and discussion”—the sort of thing the network believes viewers genuinely trust them for. “We need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever,” Lygo said, promising that these changes would allow ITV to double down on its proud tradition of trusted journalism. For all the spin, there’s no denying this is as much about the bottom line as anything more noble.

Others aren’t so sure about the upside. Ranvir Singh, another familiar face from the ITV daytime lineup, also finds her role reduced, though she’ll stick around on *Good Morning Britain* and *Loose Women*, albeit not with the same old frequency. Behind the scenes, the mood wavers between resignation and quiet anxiety. Nobody wants to say it outright, but there’s chatter: what if Lorraine Kelly herself eventually calls it a day? “If the quality slips, Lorraine’s not the type to let her name be attached to something half-baked,” one staffer confided to the Mirror over the summer.

On the production side, changes continue apace. *Good Morning Britain* is shifting over to ITN production come January—a move meant to tighten operations and, yes, hopefully save more money. These aren’t outliers so much as symptoms of a larger trend. The ‘steady’ rituals of morning TV—the familiar lineup, the half-heard chat while you pour your cornflakes—now face real and present threats from budgets, rating pressures, and shifting viewer habits.

Viewers, of course, have long seen television (perhaps naively) as a dependable comfort: the same hosts, the same smiles, day in and day out. But that sense of permanency now seems threadbare. As network schedules grow leaner and streaming lures audiences away, those certainties quietly vanish. Where this leaves *Lorraine*, its loyal team, and the viewers who grew up with them? That’s something even the calmest presenter can’t say with any certainty yet.

It’s a strange thing, seeing a familiar face quietly slip out of the morning routine. For years, Christine Lampard held the fort on ITV’s *Lorraine* when Lorraine Kelly was away—a role that felt as steadfast as a morning cup of tea. But television, it turns out, is no more immune to change than anything else.Lampard’s departure from her regular post as the show’s reliable stand-in coincides with some sharp cuts from ITV. The channel, which has dominated British mornings for decades, is now trimming *Lorraine* to just thirty minutes a day. And that isn’t year-round: the broadcast will appear about thirty weeks each year, recalibrated with a surgeon’s precision. Lampard, always gracious, turned to Instagram to make it official—her farewell post brimming not with bitterness but the warmth of someone truly grateful for her run. “We’ve laughed, lunched and learnt so much,” she wrote, a gentle nod to the peculiar intimacy of life in live television.But the news isn’t just about Lampard, or even Lorraine Kelly, who remains at the centre of the show. At its core, this signals a deeper unease across ITV and, frankly, most of the British TV landscape. Budgets are tight. Competition from streaming giants isn’t just theoretical now. Even once-untouchable programmes are being forced to re-examine every expense.ITV’s programming chief Kevin Lygo tried to put a positive spin on the decisions. He argued that paring back *Lorraine* and other daytime mainstays might sound drastic, but, the logic goes, it frees up money for more “news, debate and discussion”—the sort of thing the network believes viewers genuinely trust them for. “We need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever,” Lygo said, promising that these changes would allow ITV to double down on its proud tradition of trusted journalism. For all the spin, there’s no denying this is as much about the bottom line as anything more noble.Others aren’t so sure about the upside. Ranvir Singh, another familiar face from the ITV daytime lineup, also finds her role reduced, though she’ll stick around on *Good Morning Britain* and *Loose Women*, albeit not with the same old frequency. Behind the scenes, the mood wavers between resignation and quiet anxiety. Nobody wants to say it outright, but there’s chatter: what if Lorraine Kelly herself eventually calls it a day? “If the quality slips, Lorraine’s not the type to let her name be attached to something half-baked,” one staffer confided to the Mirror over the summer.On the production side, changes continue apace. *Good Morning Britain* is shifting over to ITN production come January—a move meant to tighten operations and, yes, hopefully save more money. These aren’t outliers so much as symptoms of a larger trend. The ‘steady’ rituals of morning TV—the familiar lineup, the half-heard chat while you pour your cornflakes—now face real and present threats from budgets, rating pressures, and shifting viewer habits.Viewers, of course, have long seen television (perhaps naively) as a dependable comfort: the same hosts, the same smiles, day in and day out. But that sense of permanency now seems threadbare. As network schedules grow leaner and streaming lures audiences away, those certainties quietly vanish. Where this leaves *Lorraine*, its loyal team, and the viewers who grew up with them? That’s something even the calmest presenter can’t say with any certainty yet.