Deborah James’ funeral sees Lorraine Kelly and Tom Fletcher mourn record-breaking fundraiser

Lorraine Kelly has been photographed leading stars making their way to mourn the loss of their late friend Dame Deborah James.

The journalist and broadcaster, who went by the nickname "Bowelbabe", "passed away peacefully" on Tuesday 28 June, her family shared in a statement on her Instagram.

Her funeral is taking place today, Wednesday 20 July, in Barnes, London, with family and close friends in attendance – including ITV presenter Lorraine, 62, who wore a black shirt with pearl buttons for the occasion.

Lorraine styled her brunette hair down into a straight bob and kept her make up simple, with a smokey black eyeshadow and nude lip.

Accessorising with a pair of silver earrings, the star held her phone in her red manicured hands as she made her way to the service.

Fellow TV presenter Gaby Roslin, 58, was also in attendance as she was pictured wearing a knee-length black dress for the heartbreaking occasion.

Gaby, who donned a pair of black heels with bows on them, styled her blonde mane down into loose waves and held onto a black clutch back as she walked towards St. Mary's Church.

TV presenters Kelly and Roslin carried a wreath of white flowers, which had a note attached that read: “Deborah, thank you to our extraordinary friend. You together with Seb, Eloise and Hugo are such an important part of our family, we will love and miss you forever.”

They also carried a music sheet for the song Tell Me It’s Not True from the musical Blood Brothers with a picture of Dame Deborah.

Giovanna and Tom Fletcher, both 37, were close behind as they held hands in support of one another while walking down the street.

McFly star Tom wore a simple black suit with a matching tie, while his wife donned a black wrap dress, which she paired with flat shoes.

The church bells chimed at 12.30pm ahead of the intimate service, which began at 1pm with readings and music from relatives.

Lorraine was one of the people leading tributes in honour of Deborah following her untimely death at the age of 40 last month.

Taking part in a moving BBC documentary titled Dame Deborah James: The Last Dance, Lorraine said: "What a legacy, what a legacy she leaves us. Just incredible."

On speaking of Deborah being made a Dame, after Prince William visited her house, Lorraine said: "Being made a Dame in her house, how Deborah, how fantastic.

"Millions and millions and millions of pounds which will save lives, just incredible."

After listening to Deborah speaking about her disease and wanting to "get busy living" because "life's too short", Lorraine smiled as she recalled: "Now, I was looking at somebody with Stage 4 bowel cancer, she [Deborah] was looking immaculate. She always was.

"Beautiful hair, beautiful makeup, and… perfect, and I just couldn't believe that this was the girl that was living on borrowed time.

"All she wanted to do was get this message across, make sure nobody else went through the same as her, make sure that everybody had the information that they needed, and to stop people being stupid about their bottoms.

"That was what struck me. We started talking about bottoms and poo after about probably 45 seconds when we met each other, and I just thought, 'I really like you, you're my kind of woman, you are a smasher'".

Reflecting at the end of the documentary, Lorraine, who recently paid tribute to Deborah on her show by wearing her charity T-shirt, said: "The thing about it is, the thing that's so hard, is that she always bounced back, and I always thought that she would.

"And that's been very difficult because we just always thought that she'd be here."

More of Deborah's friends, including broadcaster Gaby Roslin and her co-costs on You, Me & The Big C podcast, Steve Bland and Lauren Mahon also paid tribute to her in the documentary.

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