TV presenter Lorraine Kelly has said her show being cut back has “worked out really well” as it has given her more “balance”.
The Scottish presenter, 66, is best known for fronting her eponymous ITV morning talk show, Lorraine, since 2010.
The show has recently seen some switch-ups after ITV announced a number of scheduling changes, including reducing her morning programme from one hour to 30 minutes, and airing 30 weeks out of 52 from 2026.
On weeks when the show is not on air, Good Morning Britain airs for an extra half-hour, from 6am to 10am.
Speaking to the Press Association, Kelly said: “My show is now only 30 weeks a year, and it’s only half an hour now, and so I’ve got much more time.
“It’s actually worked out really well, because the balance now that I have is really doable.”
Kelly, who is also a writer, said the changes had meant she has had more time to write and recently published her second novel, The Island Secret, a sequel to her 2024 debut, The Island Swimmer.
The story revolves around a lonely Evie and the friendship she finds with a group of cold-water swimmers on Orkney.
The follow-up returns with Evie as she meets a mysterious woman who claims to be her long-lost relative, turning her life and newfound peace in Orkney around.
She said: “Obviously, with a shorter show I don’t have as much prep that I have to do, so that’s when I can write.
“It’s just worked out incredibly well, it really has, and obviously writing is what I want to keep doing.
“Hopefully while people still want to read what I’ve written, then that will continue.”
The scheduling changes came into effect from January and also saw Coronation Street and Emmerdale air for only half-hour instalments under a “soap power hour”.