Loose Women has been cancelled from Tuesday afternoon through the rest of the week in a schedule shake-up by ITV.
The popular lunchtime show usually airs weekdays from 12.30pm, but this week it is only airing on Monday, with coverage of the Cheltenham Festival replacing its prime lunchtime slot.
The horse racing event is one of the biggest events on the calendar for the sport and ITV have subsequently decided to cull Loose Women from Tuesday, March 15 through to Friday, March 18 in order to make way for the sports event.
As part of the schedule change, This Morning will finish at the usual time of 12.30pm, followed by half an hour of news coverage until the 1pm mark.
From then ITV will be switching over to coverage of the races at Cheltenham.
Ed Chamberlain and Francesca Cumani will lead the presenting duties on the first day, whilst the likes of Love Island star Chris Hughes and racing pundits including AP McCoy and Ruby Walsh will join the show to give their expert verdict on all the action.
The racing coverage will air on ITV from 1pm until 4.30pm each day, with Tipping Point keeping its usual afternoon slot.
Loose Women will return the week after the Cheltenham event has finished, starting again on the following Monday, March 22.
As Loose Women
This comes after the Loose Women panel silenced rumours of behind-the-scenes tension after months of swirling headlines of a backstage rift among the panellists.
Panellist Katie Piper, 38, who joined the panel in August, said in an interview: “Everyone’s different in their own way, and that’s what makes the show fresh each time.
"There’s nobody you dread working with as everyone’s there in their own right and brings something unique.”
Fellow panellist Jane Moore, 59, who helped launch the ITV show alongside Nadia Sawalha and Kaye Adams in 1999, is still enjoying the ride 23 years on.
She said: “It’s like female friendship in general – it just evolves.
“When women get together, they might talk about their marriage, their kids, or something in the news, but each time their perspective might have changed.”
The two are among a number of familiar faces who grace our screens every weekday lunchtime in a line-up that includes Charlene White, Nadia, Coleen Nolan, Denise Welch, Christine Lampard and Frankie Bridge.
Katie and Jane’s friendship doesn’t end when the cameras stop rolling. “We have a WhatsApp group and even when you’re not on the show, it’s going off,” Katie says, as mum-of-three Jane agrees.
Here, Jane and Katie, who also has two daughters, Belle, seven, and Penelope, four, with husband Richard, talk about the show’s strong sisterhood, their “messy nights” out, and keeping each other’s secrets.
Loose Women will return to lunchtime ITV screens from Monday, March 22.
