Lorraine and Loose Women have halted filming for the foreseeable future, as a preventative measure taken by ITV amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Lorraine aired as usual last week, however Loose Women decided to axe their live studio audience to encourage social-distancing.
This evening, show bosses decided the live shows would not air from Monday March 23 onwards, in an effort to protect the health of the crew.
Their statement read: “‘ITV Daytime has taken the decision to stop broadcasting Lorraine and Loose Women live from Monday 23rd March. This decision has been made to minimise the number of staff travelling in and out of our studios and working together on shift at any one time.
“We’re focusing our efforts on providing to viewers the latest news on the rapidly changing situation which aims to offer some stability and continuity in all our lives whilst so many of us are at home right now.
Loose Women will not air from next week onwards, in response to the virus (Image: ITV)
“That’s why we have taken this tough decision to protect our GMB News programme in the morning and keep This Morning on air for as long as possible.”
GMB and This Morning will remain, with an extra 60-minutes added to the usual Good Morning Britain airtime.
ITV added: “‘From Monday we will be running an extended version of Good Morning Britain from 0600 until 10am.
“At 9am Lorraine Kelly will join Piers in the GMB studio for the last hour and then hand straight over to the This Morning studio with Phillip and Holly as usual running from 10am until 1230pm.
“We will then run some of our most favourite repeat episodes of Loose Women from 12.30pm to 1.30pm to give viewers something to smile about each day at lunchtime.”
The news comes after soap bosses cancelled filming of Coronation Street and Emmerdale, meaning episodes could run out by the summertime.
ITV producers insited there are enough prerecorded episodes of the primetime soaps to last throughout the coming weeks, but admitted they would eventually run out.
Lorraine, which aired daily at 9am, has also been cancelled by the network (Image: ITV)
The statement, which was released earlier today, read: “We’ve been doing out best to carry on filming whilst adhering to the government’s latest health guidelines, to ensure we’ve episodes of both soaps airing on ITV until at least early summer.
“However, the health and wellbeing of the production team, actors, crew and their families is of paramount importance to us and we now feel that the time has come to stop filming.”
Loose Women bosses axed the live studio audience for last week’s episodes (Image: ITV)
The network added: “We’d like to thank our viewers for their support and hope they continue to enjoy both soaps in the coming months.”
Soap fans were disappointed by the news of the cancellation, however many have supported ITV’s decision to prioritise the health of the cast and crew on set.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
