Scots TV icon Lorraine Kelly has revealed she was told she would had no chance of succeeding as a presenter because of her Glasgow accent.
A senior boss at BBC Scotland told her that her Glaswegian accent meant she would “never make it” on telly back at the beginning of her career.
Now, at the age of 59, Lorraine has been a fixture on our morning television screens for decades and is about to celebrate 35 years in broadcasting.
Reflecting on her first TV appearance for a special broadcast celebrating the milestone on Monday, she said: “I was only 25 and very nervous.
(Image: ITV)
“I had been working as a researcher at BBC Scotland and been told by the big boss that I would never make it in TV because of my Glasgow accent.
“I went down to London to meet all of the TV-am team and see the show being broadcast, before taking over at the Glasgow office.”
“I will never forget, Anne Diamond and Mike Morris were interviewing the icon that is Bette Davis that morning. I couldn’t believe that I was in the same room as a living legend. I knew this was where I wanted to be.”
Lorraine became a Scottish correspondent for TV-am in 1984 and went on to host GMTV, ITV Breakfast and Daybreak before launching her own morning programme Lorraine.
She identified “passion and enthusiasm” as well as “curiosity” as being key to establishing a long-term career on TV.
She added: “You have to put in the work. You have to be honest and authentic.
“Do your homework and be both interested and interesting.”
But it’s not all light-hearted entertainment. Part of the job is reporting on some tragic stories, and she admitted the Dunblane massacre was one of the toughest days of her career.
She said: “I had no idea that many of the families whose children had been killed or wounded were watching our live show from Dunblane the day after the horrific killing of sixteen children and their teacher.
(Image: Joel Anderson/Daily Record)
“One of the mums, Pam Ross, whose five-year-old daughter Joanna was murdered, asked to see me privately and we ended up talking for hours at her house.
“It was all under the radar, I went to Joanna’s funeral and Pam and I have been friends ever since.”
Lorraine also identified interviewing Kate and Gerry McCann shortly after their daughter Madeleine went missing in 2007 as another “extremely hard” and challenging moment.
She added: “They have had to put up with the pain of not knowing what has happened to their beloved daughter, as well as the most appalling trolling online. My heart goes out to them.”
The programme celebrating Lorraine’s career will be broadcast on Monday September 30, at 8.30am on ITV.
