Ahead of International Women’s Day, which lands on Tuesday March 5th, let’s take an opportunity to celebrate the powerhouse of talent on ITV Daytime shows Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women.
These women not only bring joy to our mornings, but they go out into the world and achieve, achieve, achieve.
And they do so in so many varied ways – from being the first ever female broadcaster, and completing a Sport Relief challenge to water ski across the Channel, to having best-selling books or honours from the Queen, and the list goes on and on.
Here we take a look into some of the women’s most amazing achievements throughout the years…
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Lorraine Kelly was elected the first ever female rector of Dundee University in 2004. She also has not one but TWO Honorary Doctorate degrees. Congrats Dr Lorraine!
She got her honorary degree from the same university where daughter Rosie graduated from, Edinburgh Napier University, and says: "You know, I didn’t go to university. I went straight from school to work in local newspapers, so I never got the chance to go to university. So this really means a lot."
Lorraine is also an Army Cadets Colonel – she was made the first National Honorary Colonel by the Army Cadets for her 60th birthday in 2019.
Gloria Hunniford OBE, 81, was the first woman to have her own daily radio show on BBC Radio 2 in 1982. She has won several prestigious awards, including TV Personality of the Year, Radio Personality of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Award, and has an Honorary Doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast.
She dedicated her OBE to her family, saying: “It’s such an honour. And I’m especially proud that my work for cancer is the main reason. Caron [her daughter who succumbed to breast cancer in 2004, aged just 41] would have been so proud.”
Christine Lampard completed a Sport Relief challenge to water ski the channel in freezing temperatures and strong winds in 2010. It took her 100 minutes.
Speaking of the challenge she said: "Halfway through, I thought ‘I can’t do this’ because everything was starting to give. I had searing pain in my lower back, my legs were starting to wobble, and my hands – I just couldn’t hold on any longer.
"But I managed to get the strength from somewhere and I can’t quite believe I’ve done it."
As well as being the wife of rock star Rod Stewart, Penny Lancaster surprised us all when she became a fully qualified Police Special Constable in 2021.
Speaking of her decision, Penny previously told Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid on GMB: "When you think of policing, you think of the most violent crimes but we’re out there to help the most vulnerable.
"At this particular time there’s a lot of incidents on the bridges and I did help someone who was very desperate on the bridge the other night. It can be rewarding in so many ways."
Susanna Reid is a two-time TRIC News Presenter of the Year in 2014 and 2015.
Alison Hammond’s hilarious interview with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling went viral and has had over 16 million views worldwide.
Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have often got reason to celebrate – especially with their whopping 15 National Television Awards.
And celebrate they do – famously turning up for work the day after the glitzy awards ceremony still in their clothes from the night before.
Sophie Morgan – who was paralysed in a car crash when she was 18 – is one of the first female TV presenters in the world with a physical disability. She is a regular on Loose Women and is set to join Clare Balding in presenting Crufts 2022.
In 2013 she won a Royal Television Society award for Best Affairs Film for her film Licence to Kill, which was about road accidents like hers caused by young drivers.
Linda Robson has campaigned for tougher knife crime laws on numerous occasions after her son held his friend, Ben Kinsella, in his arms as he died after being stabbed in 2008.
Loose Women star Linda previously said: "Knives should be banned everywhere, not just at colleges.
"We need metal detectors on all public transport.
"We need more policing and zero tolerance. It should be jail if you’re caught with a knife. Chances are, if you’re taking it out with you, you’re going to hurt someone, if not kill them.
"And never mind woodwork classes, lessons on knife crime should be in all secondary schools."
Janet Street-Porter CBE was one of the first female newspaper editors of Independent on Sunday in 1999.
At the time, she said: "I wondered why I had been chosen to be honoured with a CBE — a senior award, just one below a Dame. Surely people ‘like me’ weren’t the right kind of people? The citation read, ‘for services to journalism and broadcasting’. And I am not embarrassed to say that I shouted out: ‘ABOUT B***DY TIME!’"
Ranvir Singh was handed a Golden Nymph television excellence award for coverage of the Westminster attack.
Katie Piper, who suffered life-changing burns in an acid attack in March 2008, was awarded an honorary degree from the Royal College of Surgeons to mark her amazing work with the Katie Piper Foundation, which supports burn victims.
She is also a best-selling author, having written 10 memoirs and self-help books, and was made an OBE in New Years Honours List in 2021.
Good Morning Britain’s weather expert Laura Tobin is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society.
The Good Morning host Kate Garraway was made an MBE in recognition of her 32 year long broadcast career in the New Year’s Honours List in 2021
Charlene White made history became the first black woman to present ITV News at Ten in April 2014.
She said of the achievement on Kate Thornton’s podcast, White Wine Question Time: "From the moment they realised that I was going to be presenting News at Ten, they just literally came together to almost lift me to make sure that I felt loved."
Charlene added: "It’s not every day you get to work in a newsroom where you get such a huge amount of support. And when I said goodbye and the cameras stopped rolling — oh god, I get emotional talking about it now — when the cameras stopped rolling, they all came into the studio and clapped, it was amazing."
As well as being part of hit girlband The Saturdays, a popular presenter, and writing a cookbook At Mama’s Table, mum-of-three Rochelle Humes has a successful baby range brand, My Little Coco, which she describes as her “passion project”.
Coleen Nolan made her first TV appearance aged eight as part of her sisters band, The Nolans. She has been on Loose Women for 21 years
Josie Gibson won Big Brother series eleven in 2010 with the highest percentage out of any other contestant. She then won praise for donating £20K of her winnings to CLIC Sargent. Last year Josie presented This Morning by herself for the first time.
The Loose Women regular Denise Welch is also an actor with an impressive CV that includes her role as Natalie Horrocks in Coronation Street, Where the Heart Is, and Holby City.
She wrote a searingly honest and best-selling memoir, Pulling Myself Together, about her experiences with addiction and depression.
The actress Nadia Sawalha and original Loose Women has put her support behind body positivity by happily posing in her undies – often in similar poses to stars like the Kardashians to remind us what non-model bodies looks like – for her followers on social media.
Kelle Bryan came to fame as part of girl group Eternal and has been a Loose Women panellist.
She has been working to raise awareness of Lupus, the chronic autoimmune condition that she suffers from, and has seen her hospitalised after her brain became infected and she suffered a seizure.
She has said: "It’s those sides of the disease that people don’t know about and there’s no awareness about it."
As part of The Saturdays, Frankie Bridge has had 19 UK top-ten singles and six UK top-ten albums. She finished third place in the 2021 series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! beating her husband Wayne, who placed in 8th place on the 2016 series.
She has also released two books when she candidly discussed her mental health, OPEN and GROW.
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