Neil Simpson - Lorraine: The True Story of Britains Best Loved TV Presenter

Hi there, good morning welcome to LK Today.

I t is exactly 8.35am and Lorraine Kelly will be in front of cameras at the London Television Centre for the next fifty minutes. All around her, the shows twelve-strong production crew in the studio and the galleries will dart and dash, mouthing instructions, checking timings and dealing with all the usual last-minute panics. But at the centre of the storm Lorraine herself will be as calm and cheerful as she has been for every one of the past twenty-two years she has spent in the early morning spotlight. She smiles as her favourite make-up lady leaps forward to pat her face and hair during the commercial breaks. She reassures nervous guests and holds their hands just before their big moment on screen. She gets more facts from the shows resident experts before interviewing them on the big feature of the day. And when the cameras roll, she makes sure that there are no silences, no continuity breaks and no over-runs on what is still the most popular late-morning television show in the country.

Were going to take a very quick break now but therell be a lot more when we come back. The first commercials normally come just under twelve minutes into the programme and Lorraine is already setting a cracking pace. A celebrity guest, a topical reference, a fashion show, a true-life crisis. Lorraine moves seamlessly from one to the next, with just a quick glance down at the paperwork on the desk in front of her as she switches her gaze from one red-lit camera to another. The autocue is rolling but everyone knows Lorraine could manage just fine without it.

Thats all we have time for see you tomorrow.

With a final smile at the main camera, Lorraine and the crew see their live transmission cut out. Another show is over. Lorraine sits back momentarily in her chair, looking upwards and off-set towards the gantry of ugly iron girders and lights that the viewers never get to see. There is always a flash of relief, a catching of breath when any live broadcast ends. But for Lorraine her days work is far from done. She is soon disconnecting her earpiece and microphone and on her feet because her make-up lady needs to be thanked. Her relieved guests need to be congratulated for holding their nerves. Her resident experts need to be primed for their next appearances. And the whole production team needs to be assured that everything is still going well and that tomorrows show will be even better.

Doing an hour of live television every morning is no-where near as easy as it looks, says breakfast television producer Anton Gray. Everything is planned down to the second but running orders can still change at any point. Some guests can talk too much and be impossible to shut up. Others can clam up totally because the whole experience is so nerve-wracking. For a breakfast show to work, the presenter needs to be able to take control in either situation. She needs to connect with the viewer and keep talking if technical glitches hold up any pre-taped clips or segments. She needs to be able to look relaxed and keep chatting while hearing all hell breaking loose in her ear-piece.

And when it comes to breakfast television nobody does all this like Lorraine.

She is famous for talking to politicians, celebrities, soap and music stars. She can interview grieving parents and traumatised youngsters. She can somehow speak for everybody because she has never kept her own hopes, fears or insecurities from her fans. She has opinions on everything from weight loss to the fame game and shes never been shy of passing them on. What makes Lorraine Kelly special is the sense that she really is just like the rest of us.

She gets to talk to the kind of people we wont ever have access to. But when she does speak to them she asks them the same kind of questions that we would if we had the chance, says television critic Charles Connolly. If she thinks fashions are ridiculous she will say so. If she thinks a diet is dangerous shell tell us. If something is making her laugh she will share the joke. You feel as if she could pop out of your television, into your living room or kitchen and just carry on chatting like a fabulously gossipy old friend. She is ordinary, yet extraordinary at the same time. Thats her gift.

What also makes Lorraine a class apart from many of her broadcasting peers is her sheer longevity. She alone has outlasted all the other superstars of the breakfast television market. From Anne Diamond to Anthea Turner, from Roland Rat to Eamonn Holmes Lorraine has sat alongside them all. And she alone is still on the sofa today. Her enduring appeal and sheer professionalism helped her beat the likes of Jeremy Clarkson to the title of Presenter of the Year from the prestigious Royal Television Society in 2006 some twenty-one years after she first appeared on screen with TV-am.

But what lies behind that appeal and professionalism? What exactly is it that has helped Lorraine Kelly to thrive when so many of her rivals have disappeared from our screens?

Those that know Lorraine well say that there can be steel behind her smile but that she never pushes anyone as hard as she pushes herself. It is this steel which has taken her from the most unpromising of beginnings to become one of the best-paid women in British broadcasting. The steel that made her run her first marathon as a forty-three-year-old mum- of-one . The steel which has seen her quietly raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for literally dozens of charities many of which say they have no more loyal supporter than the girl from the Gorbals who can never forget the poverty she saw all around her as a child.

Lorraines friends also say she has always been a woman in a hurry. She was the first girl from her school to move into full-time work. She was the first from her circle of friends to scratch together enough money to buy her own flat. The first to move to London even though her heart has never left Scotland. They also say she has never lost her ability to surprise. The Lorraine Kelly they have all grown up with can stay up until 3am re-reading her beloved Russian literature. Yet she can still be on screen before 9am talking happily about a Hollywood starlet who has fallen out of her dress at an awards ceremony. They say the real Lorraine Kelly is actually as passionate about politics as she is about pop stars. When she recently told her husband and daughter that she wanted to pull a sledge 100 miles across the Antarctic neither of them batted an eyelid. It was just the kind of crazy plan they expected of her, she said. Like most of Lorraines crazy plans it is one few people would bet against her achieving.

Joyce Woodrow first met Lorraine when they were two shy thirteen-year-olds at high school in East Kilbride. They have been the closest of friends ever since and Joyce says her pal has never let fame or fortune go to her head. I know that if I was in trouble and had to ring someone at 3am in the morning then Lorraine would be there for me, without question, she says. Joyce also knows that if she wants to dance on a bar at a Paris nightclub at 3am then there is no better person to do it with than Lorraine as the staff at the Whisky-a-GoGo club can attest, having seen the pair in action on one of their regular weekend breaks.

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Whenever journalists ask Lorraine for the secret of her success she puts much of it down to luck. But in truth there is a whole lot more to it than that. Her giggles, her laughs and her gaffes might have helped make her famous. But television and radio insiders say there is a very serious side to her as well industry legend says very few presenters prepare as thoroughly or work as hard as Lorraine Kelly. She has paid her dues on newspapers as well as on television. She has been surrounded by terrible tragedy, as well as genuine joy. This is an incredible story.