Things that only happen when you work on Lorraine
Picture the scene. I am crouched/squatting on the floor of a television studio, waiting to make one of my many appearances on Lorraine, the breakfast show hosted by, of course, Lorraine Kelly. A floor manager is explaining that when my name is called, I must stand up, smile down the barrel of camera no3 and also salute. For the viewers at home, a green screen effect will give the illusion that I am looking out of a ship’s porthole. Oh, and then I am handed a naval captain’s hat. I dutifully crouch down. Also crouched next to me, on my left is Myleene Klass. To my right, is actual cruise ship captain, Sandy Yawn. That’s the first time I realise that that is why we’re doing this, to make a fun thing of having the star of the reality series Below Deck being a guest on the show. As today’s host, Christine Lampard welcomes viewers, as the cheery title music for the show plays, I turn to Myleene, who I have known for nearly 20 years and whisper, ‘Myleene, what are our lives?’. But before she can answer, she has bobbed up to standing position to obediently smile and salute from beneath her captain’s hat. And then I hear my name and do the same.
It’s just one of the delightfully random and knowingly silly moments that you will often find yourself participating in when you’re a presenter on the show. I’ll be honest with you, every single time I come off air, I think to myself, ‘Ah well, they’ll never let me do that again.’ I hope I’m not the only live TV presenter who immediately replays the whole event in my head, thinking, ‘You really messed up your words there’’, or simply, ‘Oh great, NOW you think of the much cleverer/funnier thing you should have said. Well done.’
But miraculously, they have let me keep coming back. I’ve been involved with the show, on and off since 2008, but became a very regular presenter from 2020. Just last week though, an era came to an end. The Lorraine show will be back in the new year but it will be a half hour show instead of an hour, and it will air for around six months of the year, rather than the whole year. This picture was taken last week, on the last show to be filmed in White City’s iconic Television Centre.
I left the show last week not fully certain of what my role in it might be in the new format. I think I will still have some involvement. But realistically, there’s just not as much of a show to fill, so it won’t be as often. I love doing live television. I love how it tests me. I love the challenge of trying to make it all look smooth and seamless when you have people on set to listen to and hold a conversation with, all whilst listening to instructions from directors in your earpiece.
I rarely get nervous and that is down to the trust I have in the show team. Lorraine Kelly is the gold standard for presenters - generous, funny, always wanting others to shine and have their moment to do that, but all the while being the surefooted ringmaster. Even when you make a mistake on air, Lorraine is a genius at keeping things going and making it look like your mistake was all part of the plan.
There’s a whole squad of amazing talent on the show. Editor Victoria Kennedy is a wonderful blend of authority and kindness, and a true champion of stories that matter in women’s lives. She’s always made sure that Lorraine’s show is a platform for important conversations about things like domestic violence and rights for full-time carers. Most notably, the show has driven healthcare movements that have changed lives. Deputy editor, Helen Addis, herself a breast cancer survivor, has shaped the content in ways that holds politicians to account, campaigns for better access to effective drugs and saves lives - recently, Davina McCall’s - with her long-running Change + Check campaign. She received a highly deserved MBE this year. My producer, Paul Blake might roam the studio halls belting out Ave Maria at the top of his lungs, and taking the piss out of me with his dry Irish wit, but none of it has ever distracted from his unfailing perfectionism.
Victoria, Helen and Paul are now leaving the show, a fact I really haven’t been able to fully process yet. Denial always clings on in me. My hope is that their legacy is as powerful as it deserves to be and the campaigning arm of Lorraine will continue.
But I’m not here to be maudlin today. Because the absolute joy of breakfast TV - particularly British breakfast TV - is in the way it blends gravity and absurdity. In the last couple of years I’ve found myself discussing the impact of social media on teens in one breath, before sprinting to another part of the studio to do a quick salsa with fellow presenter, Tyler West. And everyone just rolls with it. As viewers, you never quite know what you’re going to get next on Lorraine show and believe me, that’s just as true when you’re a presenter. I probably could have made more enquiries before every show about what they might make me do on any given day, but I rather liked the game of turning up, bleary-eyed around 7am and just being told, ‘Jo, you’ll be pretending you’re a ship’s captain today’, or ‘Jo, hold this glitter ball/Bend into that weird yoga pose/Jump into this shopping trolley.’
This is what I wanted to share with you here. Here’s some of the other experiences I’ve had that can only happen when you work on Lorraine.
