LORRAINE Kelly was mocked for her “offensive” Glaswegian accent when she worked at BBC Scotland in the 1980s, the TV presenter has claimed.

The presenter spoke candidly about her experience as a researcher at the broadcaster decades ago, saying she was rejected from a more senior position.

Speaking to the Blank podcast, Kelly said: “I got called into the boss's office and I thought he was going to give me a job as a reporter, because that's what I really wanted to do.

"But he told me my accent was terrible - my accent was offensive, my Glasgow accent.

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"So when I got told that, I just applied for a job at TV-am, and luckily the boss was an Australian and didn't really care how people spoke."

The presenter told the podcast she believes it’s important to have an array of accents in broadcasting.

The host went on to say that back in the 1980s, “nobody spoke like me or Eamonn [Holmes] or lovely Ant and Dec”.

The National:

Kelly added: "Everybody spoke a sort of quite affected, posh way but that's all changed now, and I think for the better. I definitely do."

Kelly has opened up about receiving criticism for her accent early in her career before – last year she told of how, while working at BBC Scotland, a boss said she would never make it because of how she spoke.

The 60-year-old has had a long TV career, working on GMTV, ITV Breakfast, Daybreak and now her eponymous morning show Lorraine.