Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha has reacted to ITV‘s “brutal” cuts that have shaken up the channel’s programming.
It has been revealed that the channel is shortening Lorraine Kelly’s show by half and will reallocate those 30 minutes to Good Morning Britain instead, as part of a cost-cutting drive.
From January 2026, Kelly’s breakfast programme, which she has hosted for the past 15 years, will air from 9.30am until 10am for 30 weeks – instead of filling its usual 9-10am slot.
Meanwhile, Good Morning Britain will run from 6am until 9.30am instead of 6am to 9am. Meanwhile, the cuts are expected to cause job losses among production staff on several ITV shows, including This Morning and Loose Women.
Sawalha, who has been a Loose Women panellist since 1999, addressed the news on her YouTube channel, revealing that she is in fear for her job.
“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. I could be let go in five years. You don’t know because we’re not employees.”
Getting emotional, former EastEnders actor Sawalha, 60, continued: “What’s been brutal, absolutely brutal, over the last week, honestly I feel tearful about it, is that hundreds of people… are going to be made redundant out of the blue. These are all the people behind the scenes that support us in every way.
“A lot of my friends and colleagues on this show and have worked for 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 are going to do.”
She added that “television is coming very slowly to its natural end”.
“Aall 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.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
She apologised to “all my friends and colleagues behind the scenes that have just got a huge shock out of the blue”.
It was claimed that Scottish presenter Kelly, who appeared at Hay Festival earlier this week, was originally told that ITV wanted to merge her show with GMB – an idea that she reportedly rejected.
According to MailOnline, the host “was pulled into a meeting with bosses where she was told about Good Morning Britain”.
“It was proposed that her show would merge with GMB so that she presented the last 30 minutes of the broadcast, which is what happened when a reduced team were working during lockdown.”
It’s believed Kelly “told them no and said it wasn’t even a possibility”. The reshuffle was made weeks later.
A source told the outlet: “The entire thing has been an insult and she’s certain to leave when the year-long contract ends.”
Kelly’s programme will only run seasonally, with Good Morning Britain entirely taking over her original slot for the remaining 22 weeks of the year.
A source close to ITV told The Independent: “We were very open about the challenges in the industry and so several options were discussed – the key was ensuring Lorraine was retained and was as comfortable as possible in a changing landscape.
“Her show is still hugely valued – the show recently had its highest audience share in four years and still reaches 2.7 million people.
