Inside Lorraine Kelly's incredible 40 year career as special ITV documentary airs

Lorraine Kelly's impressive four decade long career is set to be celebrated with a special ITV documentary which will air tonight.

Lorraine Kelly's remarkable four decade long career in the British television industry is set to be celebrated with a special ITV documentary in her honour.

As one of the nation's most beloved broadcasters, the Scots presenter who grew up in the Gorbals, is best known for presenting her self-titled ITV show Lorraine throughout the week, that has now been running for fourteen years.

Over the years, the 64-year-old has presented a whole range of breakfast and daytime television shows including GMTV, Good Morning Britain and This Morning over the span of her forty year journey in the industry.

ITV are marking 40 years of Lorraine's TV career with a special documentary titled "Lorraine Kelly: 40 Unforgettable Years" which will air tonight (October 2) at 9pm.

Despite such a lengthy career, the presenter has arguably had her best year yet having collected a special award at the 2024 BAFTA TV Awards earlier this year.

Lorraine received a standing ovation and was visibly emotional when she took to the stage back in May to accept the award which was given to her by Succession actor Brian Cox.

The ITV host also welcomed her first grandchild this year, with her daughter Rosie Kelly Smith and fiance Steve White welcoming baby Billie into the world on August 29.

Lorraine also had a busy year in 2023 and shocked the nation when she was unveiled as Owl during her stint on The Masked Singer UK, also going completely undetected by the judges.

The mum-of-one lives in Buckinghamshire and has been married to her cameraman husband Steve Smith since 1992.

The Glasgow born host always said she knew Steve was "The One" as she previously told The Sun: "He walked into the TV-am office 28 years ago where I was working as a reporter and he was part of the crew, and I thought, 'That'll do, I'm having that.'"

The couple suffered a secret heartache five years after the birth of their only daughter Rosie when Lorraine had a miscarriage. Lorraine, who discussed Meghan Markle's miscarriage in July 2020, opened up about her own experience to Dr Hilary Jones on her ITV show.

She recalled: "It was almost exactly the same, having to go to hospital and the way she talked about it. What really helped me was being able to talk to you obviously and also other people, but also Rosie."

Rosie, who was five when it happened, recalled in a chat with Ok magazine: "I do remember. We were in Dundee. I was in the car with Dad following the ambulance. I was okay, though - I had no idea what was going on."

Although Lorraine has made many friends over the years through her work in the industry, it appears she also has made some foes. She was previously at the centre of a long-running feud with now Conservative MP Esther McVey.

Lorraine and Esther's past emerged following a 2019 live interview which went viral. Back when Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid presented Good Morning Britain together, the pair reminded Lorraine she'd worked with the politician in the late 1990s.

Susanna asked Lorraine: "Do you remember Esther McVey from her GMTV days?" Lorraine replied: "Yep. Yes I do. Right, coming up after half past eight..."

When Esther was questioned about her relationship with Lorraine during a Q&A session for her Conservative leadership campaign launch she said: "We used to share a dressing room.

"And she used to be on the programme afterwards, and obviously she used to be partnered with Eamonn Holmes . And then I was promoted to be partnering with Eamonn Holmes."

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Lorraine later contradicted her memory of the show saying: "To be honest I am baffled by that, I have had my own show since 1992 and I don't think she joined until five years later."

She added: "As far as sharing dressing rooms go, it was just a little room that everyone shared. We went in and got ready, it wasn't a dressing room with couches - just a little room, very basic.

"I'll be genuinely honest, I don't remember much - it was such a long time ago, my show was totally separate so there was no interaction."

Lorraine hit headlines once again in 2019 when she won a legal battle over a £1.2m tax bill with HMRC. A judge ruled that Lorraine was not employed by ITV, but instead performs as her "chatty" TV persona.

She had received the hefty national insurance and income tax bill from the tax office in 2016 but Lorraine argued that as a self employed person she did not receive holiday or sick pay and was allowed to do other work.

The judge said: "We did not accept that Ms Kelly simply appeared as herself - we were satisfied that Ms Kelly presents a persona of herself, she presents herself as a brand and that is the brand ITV sought when engaging her.

"All parts of the show are a performance, the act being to perform the role of a friendly, chatty and fun personality."

Lorraine also historically reported on the infamous Dunblane School Shooting in 1996 and subsequently made a documentary about the tragic incident back in 2021 to mark its 25th anniversary and speak with survivors and families of the victims.

The Dunblane School Shooting, which took place on March 13 1996 was the deadliest mass shooting in UK history, carried out by evil Thomas Hamilton who murdered 17 people before killing himself with one of his four legally-held handguns.

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Lorraine, who was at that point working for GMTV, recalled how she headed to Scotland with "ice in my stomach". Lorraine and Eamonn Holmes reported on the tragedy and one grieving parent, Pam Ross, asked her to go to her daughter Joanna's funeral.

The Scots presenter keeps in touch with Pam and often visits Dunblane to see the legacy of the Dunblane Centre, built from donations around the world.

More will be revealed about Lorraine's incredible 40 year long career in the ITV series which will air on screens this evening.

Lorraine Kelly: 40 Unforgettable Years will air on ITV on Wednesday October 2 at 9pm.

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