Susanna Reid and Kate Garraway in tears as GMB set ripped down in front of them

ITV favourites Susanna Reid and Kate Garraway were seen holding back tears as the sets of GMB and This Morning were torn down amid cuts

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GMB co-hosts Kate Garraway and Susanna were feeling all the emotions as they prepared to move studios(Image: ITV)

As massive recycling bins were seen packed full at Television Centre as the two shows made their move to a new location, popular Good morning Britain hosts Susanna Reid and Kate Garraway could barely contain their emotions.

Presenters and behind-the-scenes crew gathered on Thursday morning for an emotional debrief – and plenty of tears were shed as they marked the end of an era on some of the top shows on British telly.

It’s believed that a sad Kate was sitting on the studio floor as a colleague spoke, while Susanna and weather presenter Laura Tobin stood behind the famous GMB desk, all looking overcome with emotion, with some staff raising a glass of bubbly to toast to the team, as everything is set to change.

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Lorraine’s morning chatshow is to be cut down to 30 minutes(Image: ITV)

Workmen could be seen removing all the Christmas decorations from the studios, leaving them bare before handing the keys over to a host of new shows. GMB will now be filmed at ITN headquarters in Central London while the other daytime shows will be filmed at The H Club in Covent Garden.

It comes as a raft of changes at ITV following drastic budget cuts come into effect on Monday, with a whole new schedule which will see GMB run for half an hour longer, and morning talkshow Lorraine, hosted by Scottish presenter Lorraine Kelly, chopped by 30 minutes.

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This Morning and Loose Women will run as usual, but Loose Women will now only run for 30 weeks of the year. The changes saw 220 jobs lost in a bid to save money.

A source quoted in the Sun claims it’s a ‘terribly sad time” for the entire team – and to see the sets pulled apart was “devastating”.

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Loose Women will now be filmed at The H Club in Covent Garden(Image: ITV)

They said, “There are staff who have worked for ITV Daytime for years – from GMTV to Daybreak to GMB – also on Lorraine, Loose Women and This Morning.

“Now the teams have been split up and relocated and it’s the end of an era. Many people who weren’t ready to leave yet are saying goodbye forever.”

Television Centre, which was used by ITV Daytime since 2018, will not gather dust amid the new changes, however with a host of popular shows, such as Limitless Win, Strictly and the National Lottery draw and Saturday Night Live UK to be filmed there.

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The huge changes were announced last August by ITV boss Kevin Lygo, who said at the time: “Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust as well as generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.

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Janet Street Porter is just one of ITV’s stars to address the budget cuts(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

“These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever.”

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But it’s believed the shock changes ruffled a lot of feathers behind closed doors, including some of the stars of the soon to be drastically-reduced daytime chat show Loose Women – who are paid on an episode by episode basis.

Others, however, were philosophical about the shake-up, including the famously outspoken Janet Street Porter, who told the Mirror last November, “I’ve had to make cuts myself. I’ve been made redundant,” she explains. “For those concerned it’s very traumatic and I empathise. I’ve been kicked off shows, told to my face they don’t want me any more. It’s really wounding.

She added, “But there’s another job out there and sometimes change, particularly early on in your career, can be for the better and give you resilience. I’m not talking about the Loose staff now, but what worries me is that some young people seem to lack that ability to look at something that’s not going their way and work past it, without collapsing or breaking down.”