2 days ago
Loose Women star admits 'we're all devastated - people are struggling' as she gives DAMNING verdict on ITV cuts 'affecting people's lives'
A Loose Women star has admitted 'we're all devastated' and 'people are struggling' in a damning verdict on the ITV cuts 'affecting people's lives'.
Regular panellist Sue Cleaver, 61, has broken her silence about how the cast and crew at the chat show are really feeling about the scheduling bloodbath.
It was announced last month that from January, both Loose Women and Lorraine will air only 30 weeks per year, as opposed to their current year-round schedules.
Lorraine's run time was also slashed from an hour to 30 minutes.
ITV will also axe more than 220 jobs - nearly half its daytime TV staff, who also work on Good Morning Britain and This Morning.
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Former Coronation Street star Sue told the Express: 'We've been through it at Corrie as well and these are people's lives, and I just feel very much for all the production and the crew because people are struggling.
'It's affecting young families and it's obviously been a pretty hard time for people to hear that.
'But, you know, we have to just embrace change, and we'll see what happens.'
She is not the only panellist to speak out against the changes, with fellow Loose Women host Nadia Sawalha having hit out at them too.
The presenter, 60, choked back tears last month as she described scenes of 'shock and fear' in the corridors at ITV after 'hundreds' of shock redundancies and pay cuts.
Nadia - one of the show's most popular presenters, present from its first series in 199 - also admitted even she does not know her fate on the show.
She explained she is self-employed and 'could be let go tomorrow'.
Speaking alongside her husband Mark Adderley on the couple's YouTube channel she explained: 'Do you know what? At the moment, all of us on screen are in work and are proud of what we do.
'But behind the scenes, there are people that are really suffering and what you don't realise is when you attack the show, you attack them, because you never see all the army of people behind the scenes and how hard they work.'
Struggling to hold back her tears, Nadia added: 'So, to all my friends and colleagues behind the scenes who have just got a huge shock out of the blue: I'm so sorry.
'Mark knows how upset I've been at home about it. I just can't bear it. So, just be f*****g kind to people.'
Earlier in the video, Nadia explained: 'What people don't realise at Loose Women is that we're self-employed, I am self-employed. Every contract is a new contract.'
Commenting on the unpredictability of television work, she added: 'I could be let go tomorrow, in five years, you don't know because we're not employees.
'So, I can't tell you anything except I am on for my next contract.
'What has been brutal over the past week - and I am getting tearful about it - is that hundreds of people are going to be made redundant out of the blue.
'A lot of my friends and colleagues have been there for decades and I cannot tell you how upsetting it was to see people walking around numb with shock and fear about what they are going to do.
Commenting on the unpredictability of television work, she added: 'I could be let go tomorrow, in five years, you don't know because we're not employees'
'That has been so awful. It has been worse than whatever trolls have been saying about our show that we feel really protective of.'
On top of all the other cuts coming in January, the beleaguered Loose Women will also have another vital part of their show axed.
MailOnline revealed earlier this month the series is scrapping the live studio audience when the programme airs with a reduced schedule of just 30 episodes next year.
The change is a further blow to panellists including Ruth Langsford, 65, Kaye Adams, 62, Nadia Sawalha, 60, and Charlene White, 44, who rely on audience reactions to create atmosphere.
Bosses have got rid of the studio audience to save costs, with insiders revealing that it's an expensive feature due to being managed by an external company, who also provides security and a warmup person, but for the presenters, it's going to be a 'disaster.'
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.
And sources have told MailOnline how key talent on Loose Women are 'upset' to see the live studio audience go because it's what sets the season apart from Lorraine and Good Morning Britain amid fears viewers will 'switch off' altogether.
