LORRAINE KELLY IN THE SWIM

Forty years after her debut on breakfast TV, the chat-show queen is taking on a new challenge because, she says, you're never too old...

- NICKY MORRIS

Lorraine Kelly is feeling “incredibly lucky”. The queen of breakfast TV for the past 40 years, starting as TV-AM’s Scotland correspondent in 1984, is turning her talents to the world of publishing with her debut novel The Island Swimmer – and she is grateful for the chance to explore a new avenue at this stage of her career.

“Setting out in a completely different direction at 64 is, I suppose, quite unusual, but I think it’s really healthy,” she says, sitting down for an exclusive interview with HELLO! about the inspiration behind her novel and embracing new challenges in her 60s. “We should be curious and want to challenge ourselves and not everybody gets the opportunity.”

Top of her mind, however, was her Good Morning Britain co-host Kate Garraway, whose husband Derek Draper died on 3 January following a three-year health battle with long Covid.

“She’s remarkable,” Lorraine says. “She’s been so brave and looked after everybody else, but now she needs to heal and take care of herself. People don’t know half of the things that girl’s gone through. She’s amazing.”