Loose Women's Linda Robson shares fears over future of ITV programme as she 'prays' it doesn't get the axe after huge budget cuts

Daily Mail​

5 days ago

Loose Women 's Linda Robson has shared her fears as she 'prays' for the future of the ITV programme after huge budget cuts.
It was revealed back in May the show has been axed for half the year and Lorraine's runtime has been slashed by 30 minutes, as Daytime bosses announced cuts with job losses in excess of 220.
According to insiders, once ITV's budget cuts come into effect in January, Loose Women will no longer have A-list guests in the studio, and the broadcast is planned to only consist of the panel debating newsworthy topics from the week.
Speaking at National Reality TV Awards in London, Linda said: 'We are all rallying together. It will be very sad if we can't have guests.
'It's a shame people are losing their jobs. We're all like a family. We've been together through births, marriages, deaths. It's been very hard. Everyone's worried about the show.
'We're just trying to stay positive and hope for the best. But hopefully it's not going be as bad as it already is,' The Mirror reports.
It was revealed back in May the show has been axed for half the year and Lorraine's runtime has been slashed by 30 minutes, as Daytime bosses announced cuts with over 220 job losses
Recently Loose lady Janet Street-Porter revealed which stars are at risk from brutal cost-saving cuts by ITV - and which panelists are safe.
The 78-year-old has shed light on the reality behind the looming cuts proposed by the broadcaster, which are set to impact several daytime shows.
Janet appears certain that the 'older' Loose Women stars are not likely to be cut, given they appeal more directly to the show's target demographic.
But she warns that newcomers, younger stars or those with less experience could be at risk.
'There are no plans to get rid of the older women despite what some people have said,' Janet said.
The Brentford-born writer said the panel programme has gained the trust of female viewers as a place where important female-centred topics are discussed.
Janet added: 'I think Loose Women has become a programme that is trusted by a lot of women because we talk about the issues that they are concerned about - whether it's female health, domestic violence or how politicians don't really understand working women.'
'I think the show has managed to connect women who wouldn't otherwise have a voice. 'And it's delivered with a lot of laughs because we don't take ourselves too seriously.'
Loose Women producers are expected to cut celebrity guests from the show - and growing fears the ITV staple could even be cancelled within a year.
The long-running series usually welcomes a host of celebrities onto the panel to promote upcoming projects and have had the likes of Naomi Campbell, Elizabeth Hurley, Joan Collins, and even former Prime Minster Rishi Sunak appear.
Now, TV sources have claimed that Loose Women is predicted to be completely cancelled within the year, as viewing figures are expected to drop once the show's quality is reduced.
Daily Mail revealed that the show has axed their studio audience, an integral part to the programme, which caused upset among several members of the long-standing cast including Nadia Sawalha, Ruth Langsford and Coleen Nolan.
In May, ITV announced that Lorraine and Loose Women will only air for 30 weeks a year rather than 52, resulting in more than 220 of 440 staff involved losing their jobs.
A TV source told Daily Mail: 'Not having guests is a big blow for both the presenters and viewers at home.
'The guests are often one of the highest parts of the show, so it feels like a very strange decision to cut them altogether. Instead, the focus will be on guests for Lorraine and This Morning.
'Behind the scenes the presenters are really upset because they love having guests on and feel they offer a different type of interview to the other daytime shows.
'Firstly, there are four hosts conducting the conversation and secondly, they use their interviews to discuss female focused issues, something shows like This Morning don't do as often.
'In recent years, Loose Women have welcomed Elizabeth Hurley, Joan Collins and have down sit down one on one interviews with Janet Jackson and Naomi Campbell who all chose to do their chats with the show because they love it.
'It's a real shame that in January, the programme will become a shell of its former self before it is inevitably cancelled altogether.'
MailOnline understands that the reason for Loose Women axing celebrity guests is because there simply won't be enough manpower to host visitors and their decision has been to prioritise Lorraine and This Morning, so by default, the panel show will ultimately miss out.
Former Prime Minster Rishi Sunak faced a gruelling from the Loose Women in May 2024 who probed on topics from sex education in schools to pensions and housing
An ITV spokesperson added: 'While the team is still working on the show for next year, we can assure you that Loose Women remains a big priority within our daytime slate.
'The stars of the show are the Loose Women and that's why they've received a BAFTA nomination, launched a podcast and celebrated a milestone anniversary in the last year alone.'
It comes after ITV announced dramatic budget cuts to their daytime schedule from halving Lorraine to 30 minutes and only airing the show during school term times to cutting Loose Women's output to 30 weeks a year.
Under the plans, production of Good Morning Britain will be handled by a dedicated team at ITV News, which is made by ITN, the company that also holds the contracts to produce the news for Channel 4 and Channel 5.
ITV Studios will continue to produce Lorraine, Loose Women and This Morning but is consulting on a plan to reduce the three separate teams to one, with the latter being prioritised in terms of their celebrity bookings.
Loose Women panelist Nadia expressed her sadness over the show scrapping a live studio audience and as a result, her close friend and colleague, Lee Peart, who works as a warm-up artist, losing his job.
She said: 'I am totally devastated by this fact, I can't get over it at all. Not only because the audience is so important for the show, but also my dear friend Lee who I work with every day.'
Nadia also vocalised her feelings over the 'brutal' cuts to Loose Women as she explained how tough the May announcement had been for staff.
She explained: 'This show has been highly successful for 25 years, more actually now, it is such a clear brand...
'The brutality of the world... what a lot of people don't realise is that we're self-employed, every contract is a new contract, I could be let go tomorrow or in five years, we're not employees.
'What's been absolutely brutal over the last week and honestly, I feel tearful about it is that hundreds of people are going to be made redundant out of the blue, these are people behind the scenes, that support us in every way.
'It's the way of the world, inflation is insane, cuts have to be made... a lot of my friends and colleagues on this show and at ITV have been there for decades, and I can't tell you how upsetting it was to see people walking around numb with shock and fear about what they were going to do.'