Who is on Desert Island Discs today? Lorraine Kelly features on today's show as TV star breaks silence on ITV schedule cuts

Lorraine Kelly will be joining the popular BBC Radio 4 chat show, discussing her favourite records and well as her life and career.

The TV presenter, 65, recently hit the headlines after it was announced that ITV would be cutting her morning chat show, Lorraine, from hour episodes to just 30 minutes and on a reduced schedule of 30 weeks per year from 2026. It came amid huge budget cuts at the broadcaster, with shows such as Loose Women also impacted by the changes.

Kelly, whose television career spans more than 40 years, broke her silence on the ITV cuts during her appearance on Desert Island Discs, calling them “seismic”.

She told presenter Lauren Laverne: “Things have to change. I have been through so many regime changes in my life. For me this is just another one, but it’s seismic.”

Kelly explained her biggest upset from the situation is breaking up the “great team” that helps to deliver Lorraine on weekday mornings. She said: “We’re hoping that we can save as many jobs as we can, that’s the aim right now. But you know what, it’s just the world we live in.”

The Glasgow-native also revealed that her working-class Scottish accent impacted her early career, saying she was “crushed” when she was rejected for a job at the BBC. Her first TV job eventually came when she joined TV-am as a Scotland Correspondent in 1984 after an Australian staff member at the show did not recognise her accent.

She said: “I really worry about working-class people not being given the opportunity that I had. We talk about diversity quite rightly, but there’s a whole raft of working-class people of all colours, all creeds, all religions, who are being left behind.

“And that all comes down to money because these kids cannot afford to come to London, to live in London, because it’s impossible for them to do that. And therefore they can’t get the jobs that they absolutely should be allowed to do.

“You have to hear these voices, because that’s what our country is made up of, and if you’re only going to hear elite opinions we’re never going to get anywhere – or whoever can shout the loudest on social media – we end up in an appalling state.”

Kelly’s picks on the latest episode of Desert Island Discs include Starman by David Bowie, Rock The Casbah by The Clash, and Mama Said by Dusty Springfield.

Desert Island Discs is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 10am on Sunday mornings. Repeats are broadcast at 9am the following Friday and you can catch up on the latest episodes on the BBC Sounds app.