RTS Programme Awards 2019 in partnership with Audio Network

"The recipient of this year’s Award for an Outstanding Contribution to British television is a woman who is more than just a presenter – though she’s an excellent one of those; more than just a journalist – though again, her editorial credentials are impeccable; more than just a star – although she’s so famous that she’s usually known by her first name only.

She’s someone who, for decades now, has simply been woven into the daily life of our nation.

This year, Lorraine Kelly celebrates thirty five years on television. That in itself is an incredible accomplishment. Think about it: when Lorraine made her network debut in 1984 the Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher, the internet hadn’t really been invented and Britain had just four television channels. Since then she’s been the face of morning television almost every single weekday for an unbroken three and a half decades. And not only is she still there, her daily show’s currently enjoying its highest ratings in over five years.

Lorraine began her television career as a researcher at BBC Scotland in 1983. The following year she became the on-screen reporter of Scottish news stories for ITV’s breakfast show. Some television journalists have a style that just seems to leap through the screen, and makes a very direct connection with viewers – and so it was with Lorraine. Her news reports were authoritative but - perhaps in a foretaste of things to come – she always emphasised the human angle of any story. Her live reporting of the Lockerbie disaster in 1989 was a defining moment, and within months she was invited to London to become one of the hosts of TV-AM’s Good Morning Britain.

Since then, she’s been a constant in all our lives every morning on the many breakfast shows she’s anchored. From TV-AM to GMTV, from Daybreak to the programme with her own name as its title, Lorraine has been there – a steady, consistent, reassuring presence year after year, decade after decade, during which virtually everything else around us has changed.

She’s covered every news story from Dunblane to the death of Diana, 9/11 to 7/7, the Gulf War to Grenfell. She’s the most empathetic interviewer on television – never afraid to show her own emotions while retaining her tough journalistic instinct. Every guest who sits opposite Lorraine feels secure enough in her presence to really open up…whether they’re a member of the public who’s been touched by tragedy, or a Hollywood superstar with a movie to sell. She just treats everyone with the same warmth and respect.

Over the decades, Lorraine’s also shown she knows the real impact on viewers’ lives her show can have. She’ll use her unique relationship with her audience to talk about subjects once considered off limits in the sunny world of breakfast television…the menopause, transgender rights, terminal illness, body image, grief, family breakdown, depression, abortion, child abuse, even her own miscarriage. In fact, there really isn’t anything that Lorraine HASN’T talked about at eight thirty in the morning.

So what do we put her extraordinary appeal down to? Well one of her co-hosts perhaps put it best when he said “Lorraine relates to the audience, and the audience know that when they switch on, she’s one of them”. And that’s it, isn’t it? She has a connection with her viewers that is simply unrivalled. They absolutely love her, because they recognise her authenticity, her complete lack of affectation, her genuine innate warmth. They trust and respect her…because despite however famous Lorraine’s become, she’s never stopped being just like them."