Sarah, Duchess of York among stars to send festive greetings on Lorraine special

The festive edition will feature a line-up of famous faces, including Stephen Fry and Sugababes’ Keisha Buchanan.
PA Wire
Naomi Clarke24 December 2023
The Weekender

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Sarah, Duchess of York and Graham Norton are among the celebrities who will share festive messages during the Lorraine show’s Christmas Day special.

The festive edition on Monday will feature a bumper line-up of famous faces, including Stephen Fry reading a poem and Sugababes star Keisha Buchanan and dancer Gorka Marquez speaking about the Strictly Come Dancing special.

During the ITV show, stars will also send holiday greetings to viewers, with the duchess and veteran broadcaster Norton among the line-up as well as pop star Boy George, TV presenter Joel Dommett and comedian Matt Lucas.

Fry will open the show by reading a festive poem by the Christmas tree before later discussing his new quiz show Jeopardy with host Lorraine Kelly and playing the “piece of cake” game where he has to decide what is and is not cake involving a Christmas turkey and Brussels sprouts.

Discussing the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special with Kelly, Marquez says: “The Christmas special is about bringing joy to everyone at home.

“It’s bringing the magic of Strictly on the most wonderful day of the year, which is Christmas.

“Everyone’s at home with their families and loved ones, so Strictly is part of everybody.”

The dancer, who shares a four-year-old daughter and newborn son with his fiancee Gemma Atkinson, said he is “very excited” to spend Christmas with his family.

He said: “The whole morning is opening presents, playing with new toys. I love the fact we open a present and it’s the most exciting present but five seconds later, there’s a new present, which is even more exciting, especially Mia.”

Marquez added that he will be dancing with his daughter as he revealed she is a “showgirl” who loves to sing and dance for everyone.

He will compete on the Strictly Christmas special with Buchanan, who admitted she found the show “much more difficult” that she thought she would.

However, she said her Sugababes bandmates gave her a fist bump before her performance to encourage her, a tradition they do before every performance.

Singer Joss Stone and the Lorraine’s Change And Check Choir will also perform their song Golden during the show.

Regular presenters Ria Hebden, Dr Hilary Jones, Mark Heyes and LA correspondent Ross King will also feature as they try Kelly’s Christmas cocktails.

The Lorraine Christmas Day Special will air at 9am on ITV1 and ITVX.

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