Lorraine Kelly: It’s been a year filled with joy, love and tears… and although I lost loved ones, I also fulfilled a life-long dream

I can’t believe how fast the year has gone.

It seems such a short time ago that we were welcoming in 2017, and here we are looking back over the past year.

For me there were lots of personal highlights.

My daughter Rosie continues to thrive and enjoy life in Singapore, working for a children’s charity to help improve lives, and writing blogs about all of her travels in Southern Asia.

This year, I fulfilled the dream of a lifetime by travelling to Antarctica, following in the footsteps of my hero Sir Ernest Shackleton.

It was a very special moment when I raised a toast to The Boss at his graveside on South Georgia.

The scenery and wildlife were incredible. We saw hundreds of thousands of King Penguins and fur seal pups. We got a bit too close at times to the scary leopard seals on our tiny boat, and also came across a family of sleeping whales.

I even did the “polar plunge”, stripping off to my swimming costume and running into the icy waters off Deception Island on the Antarctic peninsula.

Obviously it was absolutely freezing, but it had to be done and I am now a member of a small but hardy club.

The trip was to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary and this year has been a chance to remember our wedding at Mains Castle in Dundee back in 1992.

In my job, I am very lucky to meet some incredible people.

It’s always good to interview A-listers, even the grumpy ones.

My favourites this year include Julianne Moore who is fiercely proud of her Scottish ancestry.

I also met up with Hugh Jackman just before Christmas, and we had a good chat about his new movie The Greatest Showman which is out right now.

Hugh was born to play the role of PT Barnum, the man who invented showbusiness and the film is a real spectacle with catchy tunes and dance routines – it’s a giant slice of escapism. It was a real joy to travel to Manchester and spend the afternoon with Corrie legend Barbara Knox who plays Rita. She is the real heart of the Street and the soap just wouldn’t be the same without her.

I was also really chuffed to meet British astronaut Tim Peake who has become such an admirable role model for our youngsters, patiently answering all of their questions, including the one most often asked, about how he went to the loo when he was on the international space station.

I will forever be grateful to the wonderful Craig David for an amazing performance in a Marbella nightclub during the summer. I was a bit worried I would fall asleep before he was due on stage at 2am, but I surprised myself and danced until the sun came up.

Craig also surprised me live on air during my birthday, which was most certainly a gift to remember.

I loved appearing on the cult BBC hit Murder In Successville earlier this year playing a rookie cop alongside the brilliant Tom Davis in the lead role as the hapless DI Sleet.

You aren’t told a thing about the plot and you have to ad lib all the way through. It was such a great experience, and it led to me being asked to do a new show for the BBC that starts next Saturday.

Wedding Day Winners is the first time I have presented a prime time Saturday night show, and it all feels very grown up.

My co-host is comedian Rob Beckett, who was a dream to work with. I have adopted him as my cheeky wee brother.

It’s such a great idea for a happy, upbeat show.

Two couples who are getting married bring their top table and other wedding guests along as our studio audience, and both sides compete against each other to win fabulous prizes.

The winning couple also receive a five-star honeymoon and we see them actually getting married in the studio at the end of the show.

There were lots of tears and lots of laughter. Some of the games are completely bonkers, I was giggling uncontrollably at the sight of brides and grooms in fat suits, blindfolded, wearing boxing gloves and trying to construct a wedding cake while the stage burled round and round.

We have loads of special surprises and the guests put on a show for their brides and grooms with the help of the likes of Anton du Beke and Jimmy Osmond and it’s a real fun, feel-good show for the whole family.

The weddings are very special as you see two people in love make their commitment to one another in front of the people who mean the most to them.

It will hopefully also be a lovely “pick-me-up” to those post-Christmas and New Year blues.

I had great fun doing the show and I really hope you get a chance to watch and enjoy sharing in our couples’ big days.

Of course, New Year is always a time for looking ahead and for making resolutions that we usually can’t keep. It’s also when we look back and remember those we have lost.

Sadly my great-aunty Lena passed away and my sister-in-law Margaret died this year after bravely living with MS for more than 25 years, and we will especially miss them tonight.

So we will be raising a toast to absent friends and to those we hold dear, as well as celebrating at midnight.

I hope you all have a good and safe New Year and see you in 2018.