Lorraine Kelly says working-class people are being “left behind” in TV roles, as broadcasters strive for greater diversity on screen.
Kelly, 65, comes from a Scottish working-class background.
She became a journalist at a local newspaper, then worked for the BBC and later became a reporter at TV-am before taking the position as host of ITV talk show Lorraine.
Speaking on Times Radio’s The Ladder show and podcast with Cathy Newman, Kelly agreed that while gender and racial diversity were rightly receiving attention, socioeconomic diversity was often left out of the conversation.
“Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s absolutely right that everybody gets a chance,” she said.
“It shouldn’t matter what colour you are, what age you are, all of these things. It’s all about ‘can you do the job? Do you deserve a chance?’”
Kelly said the playing field should be levelled, but “sometimes working-class people get left behind”.
The majority of her viewers and readers were working-class people, she said.
“Their voice is really, really important.
“It’s kind of like taking the nation’s pulse in a way and it does worry me that that doesn’t happen. Which is why I really try to always give encouragement to anybody, but particularly working-class kids … all over the country.”
In 2024, at the TV Baftas, Kelly called for action to help people from working-class backgrounds break into the industry, and more opportunities outside London, as she collected a special award.
“I don’t think they would have the same opportunities that I had, and a lot of it is financial. When I went down to London and they gave me the job … it’s so expensive. It’s so obvious, isn’t it?
“You’re cutting an awful lot of people out. I honestly wouldn’t have been able to afford to live in London, but for the fact that TV-am helped me.”
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Kelly has previously said she was told she would never make it on the screen because of her Scottish accent.
Last weekend, BBC chairman Samir Shah told the Times the broadcaster needs “more variety” and “diversity of thought” as well as more staff who are “northern working-class”.
Fewer than 10 per cent of people from the TV, video, radio and photography sectors were from working-class backgrounds in 2023, according to the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre.
At the 2024 Edinburgh TV Festival, former Countdown star Carol Vorderman and This Is England playwriter and Sherwood creator James Graham called for more working-class stories and people in the industry.
