Latest news with #Loose
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Loose Women star bags major new role days after ITV's brutal daytime TV cuts
A Loose Women icon recently took to her Instagram page to announce the release of her new podcast, with its first episode released today (Friday 30 May) An iconic Loose Women panellist has landed a brand new job just days after ITV announced its shock changes. The popular daytime programme will air for just 30 weeks each year from January, one of several changes ITV is making to "reinvest across the programme budget in other genres." It reportedly left some Loose Women stars worried for their future, particularly Coleen Nolan, who a source had said was "shocked and blindsided" at the decision. It also emerged some panelists were "in a state of panic and up in arms" about the bombshell changes that were only recently announced – while Nadia Sawalha broke down in tears and said "I could be let go tomorrow" as she discussed the cuts. Amid the panic, panellist Judi Love revealed she landed herself a podcasting gig. On Friday morning, the 44-year-old comedian took to her Instagram to reveal the first episode of Our Table. Fellow Loose Woman panellist Charlene White is joining her for the brand-new show, along with David Gyasi, comedian Michelle de Swarte and actress Deborah Ayorinde. "Our Table will launch on Friday, the 30th, on YouTube and all major podcast platforms!," Judi recently posted on social media. "We have an exciting series lined up, featuring incredible guests and engaging conversations. Join us at Our Table!!" Fans congratulated her on her new venture, as one said: "Well done Judi, an incredible trajectory," and another posted: "Yesssssssss! Congratulations our Judi." Nadia Sawalha added: "Truly overwhelmed at how fabulous this show is..." The guests of the first episode discussed "identity, ambition, and the life experiences that have shaped them" over a Caribbean-inspired meal made by Chef Dom Taylor. "Honest, moving, and often hilarious, this episode sets the tone for a series that's all about real people and real talk," the description explained. Meanwhile, ITV recently stressed Loose Women plays an important part in its daytime schedule, and told the Mirror that wholesale changes to the panel are unlikely. The ITV source said: "We are not planning any radical changes to the panel. All of our Loose Women are hugely valued and we celebrate each and every one and the experience and opinions they bring to the show every day. "Many of our long standing panellists have appeared on the show for the majority of its 25 year run on screens and those stalwart, Loose legends are at the core of the show's success and hugely popular with the audience. The show remains a big priority within our daytime slate, having secured a BAFTA nomination, launched a podcast and celebrated a milestone anniversary in the last year alone." The programme, which first aired in 2000, won a Royal Television Society award earlier this year for its Facing It Together campaign against domestic violence.
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Nadia Sawalha breaks down in tears over ITV cuts and says 'I could be let go tomorrow'
Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha has broken her silence on the ITV daytime cuts, which will see the show reduced to just 30 weeks a year and the team behind the programme merged with Lorraine and This Morning. Loose Women's Nadia Sawalha has candidly discussed the ITV daytime reductions, expressing her heartbreak for colleagues facing redundancy and sharing concerns over her own future on the show. ITV has announced cuts to their programming, reducing Loose Women to a 30-week annual run and merging the production teams behind Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women, resulting in notable job losses. Scots telly favourite Lorraine Kelly's programme will be cut down to half an hour and aired just 30 weeks per year, triggering an extension of Good Morning Britain up to 9.30am each day. While the stars of Loose Women had remained silent about the network's restructuring, sources suggest turmoil behind the scenes. However, Nadia Sawalha broke that silence, opening up about the impact of the cuts in her most recent YouTube video. Speaking honestly in the clip, she said: "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." Sawalha went on to address her unseen colleagues directly, saying: "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." She then said: "What people don't realise at Loose Women is that we're self-employed, I am self-employed. Every contract is a new contract. "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. "That has been so awful. It has been worse than whatever trolls have been saying about our show that we feel really protective of." Yet sources have refuted claims of significant changes being on the horizon. A source speaking to The Mirror said: "We are not planning any radical changes to the panel. All of our Loose Women are hugely valued and we celebrate each and every one and the experience and opinions they bring to the show every day. "Many of our long standing panellists have appeared on the show for the majority of its 25 year run on screens and those stalwart, Loose legends are at the core of the show's success and hugely popular with the audience. "The show remains a big priority within our daytime slate, having secured a BAFTA nomination, launched a podcast and celebrated a milestone anniversary in the last year alone." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
ITV speaks out over concerns Loose Women panel to be slashed amid daytime cuts
Reaction to the news Loose Women will air only 30 weeks of the year from January irked Jane Moore, who said she was "immensely disappointed" to see pundits' "lazy misogyny" ITV has insisted it is not planning "radical changes" to the Loose Women line-up after it emerged some panelists were "in a state of panic and up in arms" amid the cuts bombshell. The popular daytime programme will air for just 30 weeks each year from January, one of several changes ITV is making to "reinvest across the programme budget in other genres." It reportedly left some Loose Women stars worried for their future, particularly Coleen Nolan, who a source had said was "shocked and blindsided" at the decision. Her colleague Jane Moore was also furious, albeit more so at the "snooty reaction" by commentators in the media. The journalist said she felt the programme has received unfair criticism, and reminded pundits the panel regularly hold key political figures, such as Nigel Farage, held to account. ITV has also stressed Loose Women plays an important part in its daytime schedule, and told the Mirror today that wholesale changes to the panel are unlikely. The ITV source said: "We are not planning any radical changes to the panel. All of our Loose Women are hugely valued and we celebrate each and every one and the experience and opinions they bring to the show every day. "Many of our long standing panellists have appeared on the show for the majority of its 25 year run on screens and those stalwart, Loose legends are at the core of the show's success and hugely popular with the audience. The show remains a big priority within our daytime slate, having secured a BAFTA nomination, launched a podcast and celebrated a milestone anniversary in the last year alone." It is thought this stance has been shared with the stars themselves, some of whom "reached out to the production team in a panic" following the announcement of the shake-up last week. Ruth Langsford and Kaye Adams were among those particularly concerned, the Mirror reported in the wake of the bombshell. Coleen, whose sister Linda died in January, "has always really relied on Loose Women... her main income," a source had told us. They added: "She was one of the first Loose Women and she's always thought it would go on forever. The Loose Women ladies are all gutted. They love the show and are really dedicated to it." The programme, which first aired in 2000, won a Royal Television Society award earlier this year for its Facing It Together campaign against domestic violence. However, writing for The Sun this week, Jane said: "One male commentator for a broadsheet casually dismissed Loose Women — on air for 25 years — as a 'gabfest'... The snooty reaction from some quarters was immensely disappointing." The journalist, in her second stint on Loose Women, reminded critics Janet Street Porter confronted then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the show, asking him: "Why do you hate pensioners?" The iconic moment in May 2024 led to his fall from power, as Labour thrashed the Conservatives in a landslide election just weeks later.
Scottish Sun
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Most shocking Loose Women moments of all time as show in turmoil – from rapist sympathy and ISIS shock to flashing
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) IT HAS been on air since 1999 and weathered its fair share of storms. But Loose Women has been further thrown into turmoil after ITV's Daytime division announced brutal cost-cutting measures. 11 Loose Women has weather its fair share of storms in 26 years on air Credit: Rex 11 It has been further thrown into turmoil after ITV's Daytime division announced brutal cost-cutting measures Credit: Rex Features To make matters worse, the 26-strong line-up had been left in the dark about the cuts to their lunchtime talk show, which will take effect from January. None of hosts - including big-hitters Coleen Nolan, Christine Lampard and Gloria Hunniford - had been warned it will be shrunk to screen 'seasonally' for 30 weeks of the year. The old guard, some of whom have been on board since day one, are said to now fear they will be left scrambling for shifts. That's while the PR-friendly younger panellists like Love Islander turned documentary-maker Olivia Attwood, influencer Grace 'GK' Barry and Saturdays singer Frankie Bridge are allegedly set to clean up. A source at ITV HQ said: 'The tension is unbearable. There's a lot of rage towards This Morning, which everyone feels is constantly favoured despite it being the lame duck of the daytime flock. 'The infighting is a feverish time-bomb which executives are desperate to defuse. ITV Daytime could combust from the inside out at this rate.' But like we all know, it's not the first time that there's been unbearable tension among the Loose ladies, particularly on-screen. Fabulous takes a look at the most shocking Loose Women moments to ever be aired… 'Rapist sympathising' Telly presenter Judy Finnigan, 77, joined Loose Women in 2014 and was thrown into the deep end on her first day by a discussion about Welsh footballer Ched Evans launching an appeal against his conviction for rape, which he was eventually found not guilty on appeal in 2016. The Richard and Judy star left viewers shocked when she said: "The rape was not violent, he didn't cause any bodily harm to the person." 11 Judy Finnigan was accused of being a rapist sympathiser after her first appearance on Loose Women Credit: ITV Following public outrage, she apologised in statement saying: "I absolutely wasn't suggesting that rape was anything other than an horrendous crime and, as I said on the programme, I was in no way attempting to minimise the terrible ordeal that any woman suffers as a result. "The point I was attempting to raise as part of the debate was what should happen to someone after they have committed a crime and served their time?" The C-bomb The most offensive language must not be broadcast on television before the 9pm watershed. But 47-year-old Katie Price's eldest child, Harvey, broke that rule in 2016 when he joined the panel to discuss being told on social media. 11 Harvey Price dropped the C-bomb on Loose Women in 2016 Credit: Rex Features Asked what he would say to someone who made negative comments about him, Harvey, then 13, replied "Hello you c***." His mum quickly reacted with a shocked, 'erm, Harvey!', while presenter Andrea McLean apologised to viewers for his bad language. Gay rights row In 2015, Coleen Nolan causes uproar when she weighed in a Christian bakery that made headlines for controversially refusing to decorate a cake with a message supporting same-sex marriage. The 60-year-old defended the owners, saying: 'If you went in somewhere and they said two days later 'we don't want to make your cake because of our beliefs', you'd just never go back to that shop and tell all your friends to boycott it. 11 Coleen Nolan caused uproar in 2015 when she compared gay rights to terrorist organisation Islamic State Credit: ITV "What if somebody walked in and said 'I want a cake with Islamic State on it and how I support it and how I support them killing our people' - and because it's a business would they have to make that?" Fuming viewers called for the panellist to be sacked and demanded she make a public apology, but neither of those calls were actioned. Potty-mouth rant The late Joan Rivers was famed for blunt, and often controversial, comedic persona - which is exactly what she brought to the Loose Women panel in 2008. The potty-mouth comedian launched into a rant when she was asked about meeting Hollywood stars on the red carpet. 11 Joan Rivers left the Loose Women ladies red-faced after blurting out expletives on their lunchtime TV show Credit: ITV She said: "You get someone like Russell Crowe, and you want to say to the camera 'He is a piece - get ready to bleep this - of f***ing s***!'" Joan's fellow panellists had to apologise on her behalf, with Jane McDonald adding: 'We haven't got a bleeper. We're live!" Fat shaming Loose Women viewers were left furious today as Janet Street-Porter 'fat shamed' Wayne Rooney in 2022. The presenter, 78, was discussing the footballer's recent court appearance as part of the ongoing Wagatha Christie trial - and said he was about to 'explode' out of his suit. 11 Presenter Janet Street-Porter 'fat shamed' Wayne Rooney in 2022 Credit: ITV Janet commented: "Have you ever seen Wayne Rooney looking so smart? Wayne has been ordered by his wife to shape up, fit into that suit and my goodness it looks like he is about to explode out of it any minute." Those watching at home were unimpressed by her comments and took to X (formerly Twitter) to slam her as 'vile', with one penning: "Imagine if she was saying that about a woman?' Rampant rabbit Coleen Nolan stunned audiences in 2016 when she revealed she fell asleep while using a sex toy that her friend had bought her. The 60-year-old made the startling confession while discussing 'bedroom boosters', and said she'd had too much to drink when she nodded off while attempting to have a go with a Rampant Rabbit. 11 Coleen Nolan fell asleep while using a sex toy that her friend had bought her Credit: ITV She said: 'Me and Ray had a bit of a row and I thought 'well I don't need you, because I have my friend'. I went into the spare room and got friendly. 'But what happened was - and I am not joking at all - I fell asleep because I had a couple of glasses of wine and I am not good with drink, so I fell asleep it was the annoying buzzing that woke me up.' Bum flash Katie Price left jaws on the floor as viewers tuned in to watch Loose Women in 2016 and saw the mum-of-five flashing her backside during a holiday wear segment. She sported a revealing green and black polka dot number with a high leg split. 11 Katie Price flashed her bum during a holiday wear segment in 2016 Credit: ITV As the former glamour model, 47, paraded around, she showed off a little bit more flesh than was probably advisable for the ITV show's daytime telly slot. Viewers were less than impressed with some dubbing it 'awkward viewing'. That being said, others took to social media to gush over her 'amazing' figure. Kim Woodburn storming off Kim Woodburn stormed off the Loose Women set in 2018 after being reduced to tears by 'lying trash' Coleen Nolan, whom she'd clashed with in the Celebrity Big Brother house 18 months prior. Walking off the show, the 83-year-old shouted: 'I wouldn't want to sit and talk with lying trash. She's a horrible person. You are trash, you're a piece of filth!" 11 Kim Woodburn stormed off the Loose Women set in 2018 after being reduced to tears Credit: Rex Features It was sparked by Coleen whispering under her breath that Kim was 'going to cry in a minute'. The bust-up saw 3,297 furious viewers ringing up Ofcom to complain, with Kim later telling The Sun that she felt as though she had been ambushed. Coleen and the Loose Women team said they had 'genuinely hoped for a reconciliation'. Nose job 'bullying' Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby vowed never to appear on Loose Women again after she claimed she was 'bullied' over her nose job. The 35-year-old appeared on the lunchtime panel show in May 2016 and was left squirming in her seat as she was questioned over her cosmetic surgery. 11 Charlotte Crosby vowed never to appear on Loose Women again after she claimed she was 'bullied' over her nose job Credit: ITV During the appearance – which was branded awkward by some viewers – Charlotte was forced to defend herself against the panel , in particular feisty Janet Street-Porter, 78. The conversation quickly turned sour when Janet wanted to know if the reality TV star thought she was setting the right example for her young fans. The presenter asked her: 'What message does that send to teenage girls who watch your show, follow you on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, who might think, 'My nose has a lump in it but I haven't got four grand to spend'?' Speaking about the experience, she told new! Magazine in an angry rant: 'I've been on Loose Women and it was a horrible experience. I cried before and afterwards, that's why I wouldn't go back on. It was awful. I was bullied. I'm never going on again in my life. I hated it.'
Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Loose Women 'war' sees star divide as some fume over 'teachers' pet' panellists
The Loose Women panellists are believed to be enraged over the huge shake-up at ITV, which will see the programme taken off air for almost half of the year Older members of the Loose Women panel are believed to be vowing to "fight" against the younger stars. It comes amidst a huge shake-up at ITV, which will see a huge overhaul of their daytime scheduling, affecting various shows. The network announced earlier this week that Loose and Lorraine Kelly's self-titled show will see its time on air cut to just 30 weeks of the year, rather than airing on a continuous basis. Despite This Morning being hit with a huge dip in viewing figures, the show will not be affected. Lorraine's programme has also taken another hit and will air for just half an hour, rather than an hour, as Good Morning Britain has been extended for an extra 30 minutes. But tension at Loose is believed to be at an all-time high, with panellists feeling as though they're on a probation period. It's claimed that stars of the midday programme, including Christine Lampard and Coleen Nolan, hadn't been informed of the news until it was made public. Reports claim that older women on the panel, who have been there since it launched a quarter of a century ago, believe they'll be fighting against "PR friendly" younger members of the team, including Frankie Bridge, Olivia Attwood and TikToker GK Barry. The majority of the panel have been through ITV cuts and the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 and have come out the other side. But the news this week is said to have left them blindsided. A source said: "They feel like often all the negative criticism is levelled at them, the odd 'out of touch' comment, whereas with the new panellists such as Liv and Grace, there is a buzz around them because they have that different point of view." They added to The Sun: "Execs have also proudly pro-claimed how the youngsters have brought with them a much-needed new audience — and now all of a sudden the older panellists feel like they are going to have to fight for their places against these shiny teachers' pets. It's now five months or so for them to prove their worth and sing for their supper." But a source at the network said that the older panellists on Loose Women are "highly valued and celebrated". They added that while there are reports of the panel "fighting" to get time on the show, the Loose Women podcast and Over 60 and Over 70s specials will "keep everyone busy." It's claimed that regular anchors, including Christine, Kaye Adams, Ruth Langsford and Charlene White, are all safe in their positions but many have been left worried that bosses will meticulously look over their social media posts, episode ratings and audience polling results. Reports claim that many of the panellists feel they will now have to 'audition for their role' and tensions will rise as they continue to demonstrate how bold and feisty they can all be. Over the years, viewers have seen clashes between each of the panellists, with former star Carol McGiffin allegedly clashing with Andrea McLean after she was left off the invite list for her wedding. Carol took to her Best Magazine column to highlight this, writing, "I'm ecstatic for them both, even though I wasn't invited to the wedding. Andrea's managed to squeeze in two weddings in less time than I've been engaged to Mark, which is a bit embarrassing, to say the least." Speaking in 2014, Mylene Klass, who often appears on the panel, hit out following a clash with broadcaster and journalist, Janet Street-Porter. On the show, Janet lost her temper with the star, saying,"I'm happiest when I'm not sat next to you Myleene!" Following this, the singer took to social media to vent: "I love Loose Women. It's nice to be able to articulate and get things out there. But I feel it was getting a bit misogynistic, a bit post-menopausal or pre-menopausal and ranty. That's not how women should be represented so it's nice they've refreshed the panel and we can talk about politics, fashion designers and what else is going on in the week. "It's a show for women but I don't feel like it empowered me. People think you're best friends with everybody on Loose Women. You're absolutely not. You have to just tolerate [some people] because you've got to get the job done." Elsewhere, speaking out last year, McGiffin fumed: "I don't regret leaving – I don't fit in there any more. Someone, somewhere, will be offended by absolutely everything. I'd rather not be on a show that panders to that. It's boring – and I won't be told what I can or can't say." Despite her ongoing clash with the show, she has remained close to Denise Welch, Kaye, Jane Moore and Nadia Sawalha. But, Carol, who never refrains from speaking her mind, told Women's Own: "Some, I have nothing in common with. As I said to them, 'You're not friends, you're just people I work with, who I really like.' Which horrified them."
