Loose Women live shows replaced with repeat episodes as coronavirus crisis continues

TV schedules are facing unprecedented alterations as sets close and live audiences are discouraged 
Off air: Viewers will get their daily dose of Loose Women with repeat episodes
ITV
Rachel McGrath23 March 2020

Loose Women and Lorraine are two of the latest TV shows to be affected by coronavirus.

After airing without a studio audience live week, Loose Women will now stop broadcasting live and repeat episodes will replace the daily instalments.

Earlier in the day, an extended version of Good Morning Britain will air from 6am until 10am and feature Charlotte Hawkins as co-host until 9am, with Lorraine Kelly joining Piers Morgan for the remainder of the programme.

Announcing the news about Loose Women and Lorraine, a statement said: “ITV Daytime has taken the decision to stop broadcasting Lorraine and Loose Women live from Monday 23rd March.

Off air (for now): Lorraine's standalone show will now form part of GMB
ITV

“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.

“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.”

This follows an earlier announcement by the broadcaster that filming on its soaps – Coronation Street and Emmerdale – will also be suspended from Monday due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

Celebrities reacting to coronavirus - In pictures

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The broadcaster added that over the last week they had been reducing crew numbers and “these changes will enable us to reduce them further and help us build further resilience with the aim of Daytime content continuing to air for as long as possible”.

The statement ended saying: “Safeguarding the well-being of everyone involved with our programmes is our priority and in this dynamically developing situation we will obviously continue to review these new arrangements on a day by day basis and follow at all times the latest PHE and WHO guidelines.”

Announcing the news about Coronation Street and Emmerdale, ITV said its staff had been working hard to ensure filming continued “whilst adhering to the Government’s latest health guidelines”.

It said enough episodes have been recorded to see both soaps through until the early summer.

The statement said: “ITV has sadly taken the decision to suspend production of the soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale with effect from Monday March 23.

“We’ve been doing our 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 the early summer.

“However, the health and well-being of the production teams, actors, crew and their families is of paramount importance to us and we now feel that the time has come to stop filming.

“We’d like to thank our viewers for their support and hope they continue to enjoy both soaps in the coming months.”

A tweet from the official Coronation Street account confirmed it will still be on air next week “as normal, apart from Friday”.

From Monday, March 30 onwards the show will air three times a week.

Yorkshire-based soap Emmerdale will air on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from next week.

Last week, the BBC suspended filming of EastEnders and other top BBC dramas including Casualty, Doctors, Holby City, River City and Welsh series Pobol y Cwm.

Filming on Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks will also be paused and the number of weekly episodes will be reduced from five to three from Monday March 30. These will air from Monday to Wednesday.

A statement from Lime Pictures, the makers of Hollyoaks, said: “To make sure we stay on air every weeknight, fans can look forward to extra special episodes every Thursday and Friday on E4, as we begin a brand new series of ‘Hollyoaks Favourites’.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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