Dr Hilary Jones reveals he is leaving Lorraine amid brutal ITV cuts which have seen its episodes slashed

by

Dr Hilary Jones has revealed he is leaving Lorraine after 36 years amid the brutal ITV cuts. 

The 72-year-old doctor has been a consistent presence on the morning show since it began in 2010. The show is currently affected by budget cuts announced in May by the broadcaster.

Dr. Hilary began his television career in 1989 as the resident doctor on TV-am. He then became the health and medical advisor for GMTV in 1993, and continued in that role as health editor when GMTV became Daybreak and later, Lorraine.

After learning that the Lorraine show will only be 30 minutes long each day and broadcast for 30 weeks out of the year, Dr. Hilary has announced he’s leaving the program.

The doctor known from television announced that his last regular appearance will be on New Year’s Eve. He’ll then be available to work on other projects, but he hinted he might come back for occasional guest spots on the show.

Dr. Hilary told The Sun that people are understandably upset about others having to adjust to new circumstances.

‘A lot of people are being redeployed elsewhere or in the same role. 

‘ITV, like everyone else, are having to make changes.’

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Dr Hilary and ITV for comment. 

Oh my gosh, you won’t BELIEVE what’s happening! Lorraine Kelly just *spoke out* about ITV messing with her show – they’ve been making these awful cuts, she said it was ‘heartbreaking,’ but she totally shut down any rumors about leaving! I was so worried, but she’s staying! Seriously, she’s the best and I’m so relieved she’s not going anywhere. I’m breathing a sigh of relief right now, honestly!

Good Morning Britain will now take her titular show’s 9-10am slot for 22 weeks of the year.

For the next 30 weeks, the show will air five days a week, so Ranvir Singh and Christine Lampard won’t be filling in on Fridays anymore.

The show is now much shorter, airing for only 30 minutes from 9:30 to 10:00 AM.

Ever since ITV made its announcement, there’s been a lot of talk about Lorraine possibly leaving the show.

After remaining silent for five months about the budget cuts, the Scottish performer stated they plan to stay with the show for as long as they can, ‘until viewers lose interest’.

She shared with The Mirror that she suspected changes were on the way. Despite a limited budget, the show worked hard to attract high-profile guests and deliver a quality program.

Lorraine acknowledged she was upset by the decision, but explained her frustration stemmed from concern for her team, who had also experienced job cuts.

As a long-time viewer of ITV’s daytime programming, I was really concerned to hear the news. It seems like around half of the team – up to 220 people out of their 450 daytime staff – could potentially lose their jobs. It’s definitely worrying for everyone involved and I hope they can find a way to minimize the impact.

She said she was okay with the shows being shorter and airing less often, explaining that her biggest concern was protecting as many jobs as she could.

Lorraine admitted it was incredibly difficult to let go of colleagues she’d known and worked with for over 20 years, describing the experience as ‘heartbreaking.’ Although many of those affected have moved on to new roles, the loss of her long-time team members was deeply upsetting.

It was a tough time dealing with the budget cuts, but I’m feeling much better about things now. Honestly, my main concern was always the well-being of the team.

‘I wasn’t annoyed or angry about this for me… it was about the team.’ 

Although she was deeply upset by the recent changes, and many people believe she’ll retire next year, she firmly stated that the cuts haven’t made her reconsider her decision to continue working.

Lorraine Kelly said she plans to continue working and staying active like ‘Loose Women’ stars Janet Street-Porter and Gloria Hunniford, who are both thriving in their 70s and 80s.

Let me tell you, the rumors about me leaving my show when my contract is up are completely false! I’m in it for the long haul – I joked that I’ll probably still be showing up even when I need a walker! I absolutely love what I do and have no plans to retire anytime soon.

I don’t plan on leaving until the public is truly dissatisfied, until they’ve simply had enough.

Read More

2025-10-19 01:50