Lorraine Kelly slammed over Nicola Bulley’s segment as divers combed the river for the missing mother

ITV viewers fumed at channel darling Lorraine Kelly as she referenced missing Nicola Bulley in the past tense.

The Scot was interviewing Jill Peck, the mother-of-two’s friend, as she coined phrases like “you knew her”.

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Ms Kelly – a nearly 40-year veteran on the box – also told Jill during the sound-packed segment, “This is a woman who had so much to live for.

In Tuesday morning’s edition of Lorraine, she asked: “A lot of theories are being put forward.

“You knew her very well, what’s your gut feeling about all this?”

The 63-year-old continued, “This is a woman who… who… has so much to live for.

“Tell me, because you know her for who she is, we kind of miss the kind of person she was … and is.”

The comments left viewers blasting Lorraine for the “wrong choice of language” about the dogwalker, who disappeared in Lancashire 11 days ago.

Taking to Twitter, one user raged: “You ‘knew’ her very well?????? Wrong choice of tense, Lorraine.”

Another slammed: “Lorraine says she has hope after speaking in the past…!! what hope you gave.”

And a third went as far as saying: “Please stop talking about Nicola Bulley in a past tense

“Imagine how you would feel if the conversation were reversed.”

Nicola was last seen around 9:15am on January 27 walking brown spaniel Willow on a towpath by the River Wyre near St Michael’s on Wyre.

Monday’s search for the mother focused downstream on the intertidal area of ​​the river, but Tuesday’s scour is taking place further upstream.

The search includes and extends beyond the area where Nicolas belongings were found on a bench off Garstang Road in St Michael’s on Wyre.

Although there is no sign of the mother in the river, Lancashire Police believe the mother “unfortunately” fell in.