Loose Women will axe a vital part of the show which viewers love in a desperate bid to save money as ITV‘s budget cuts rage on.
MailOnline can reveal the series are scrapping their live studio audience when the programme airs with a reduced schedule of just 30 episodes next year.
The change is a further blow to the panellists which include Ruth Langsford, 65, Kaye Adams, 62, Nadia Sawalha, 60, and Charlene White, 44, who rely on the reactions of the audience to create a lively 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.
Loose Women will axe a vital part of the show which viewers love in a desperate bid to save money as ITV’s budget cuts rage on
MailOnline can reveal the series are scrapping their live studio audience when the programme airs with a reduced schedule of just 30 episodes next year
It comes as panelist Nadia spoke about the ‘brutal’ cuts to Loose Women as she explained how tough the announcement had been for production staff
A TV source told MailOnline: ‘The panelists are really upset over the decision to axe the live studio audience from the show.
‘It’s what sets the series apart from the rest of ITV daytime and now there are massive concerns that viewers will switch off completely.
‘The only concern now is to cut costs and having a live studio audience can be expensive, with the added need for security and a warmup artist.
‘Presenters already know how it feels to broadcast the show without an audience because that’s what happened during the pandemic, and they all know it creates low mood and lack of atmosphere.’
MailOnline revealed it isn’t just Lorraine and Loose Women who are experiencing budget cuts and job losses following ITV’s recent announcement about merging their daytime shows.
This Morning are also suffering from cutbacks behind the scenes with presenters like Alison Hammond told they will no longer fly overseas for A-list interviews, as well as scrapping live outside broadcasts like from their TV forest.
It comes as panelist Nadia spoke about the ‘brutal’ cuts to Loose Women as she explained how tough the announcement had been for staff.
She said: ‘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.
The change is a further blow to the panellists which include Charlene White and Olivia Attwood Kaye Adams, who rely on the reactions of the audience to create a lively atmosphere
Loose Women panelist Kaye also commented on the changes at ITV daytime, saying: ‘I had a couple of sleepless nights, because it’s just like the rug’s been pulled from under your feet’
‘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.’
Long-running Loose Women panelist Kaye also commented on the changes at ITV daytime, speaking on her podcast How to be 60.
She said: ‘It did come out of the blue. I didn’t anticipate it, which is probably stupid in retrospect. You get into a sort of rhythm of life.
‘I had a couple of sleepless nights I have to say, because it’s just like the rug’s been pulled from under your feet – what has been familiar.’
Last month, it was confirmed that Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women will relocate from Television Centre to a new filming location, where they plan to share the same studio.
Insiders revealed the move means there will be limited time between each show so changing the set between broadcasts may not be possible, potentially affecting the quality of the season’s output.
MailOnline has contacted an ITV spokesperson for comment.
