Nadia Sawalha

Following the latest news that beloved Loose Women panellist Denise Welch is departing the ITV show, many viewers are now labelling the programme a ‘sinking ship’

Daytime TV favourite Loose Women has recently undergone some of the most sweeping structural and staffing shake-ups in its 26-year history, and following the latest news that beloved panellist Denise Welch is departing the show, many viewers are now labelling the programme a ‘sinking ship’.

As part of a sweeping broadcaster-wide cost-cutting drive by ITV, the format of the show has changed dramatically this year. Rather than broadcasting all year round, Loose Women was scaled back to a seasonal format in January, airing for just 30 weeks a year. The show also axed its live studio audience entirely. This decision led to the dismissal of long-serving studio warm-up comedian Lee Peart, sparking an emotional outcry from remaining cast members.

Loose Women also vacated its former home and relocated to The H Club Studio in Covent Garden. It now shares a centralised, 360-degree LED-walled studio space with This Morning and Lorraine in a bid to significantly slash production costs.

While its standard runtime remains one hour (12:30 pm to 1:30 pm), the show has trialled temporary extensions – such as 15-minute “extra time” segments to accommodate sports scheduling and specific themed features.

It was also revealed this month that panellist Nadia Sawalha had been dropped from the programme by ITV following controversy over her beliefs. Now, news has broken today (August 13) that Denise Welch has quit the show.

The 68-year-old, who has appeared on-and-off the programme for 25 years, says she wants to throw herself wholeheartedly into her acting career, which she has described as her true passion and “first love”.

She has enjoyed a remarkable professional resurgence of late, landing major television roles including the Channel 4 sitcom Stepping Up and the Channel 5 drama Forever Home.

In a video uploaded to her personal Instagram account, Welch opened up about the reasoning behind her departure.

She said: “Acting has always been my first love and, I think, the thing I’m best at.

“At the moment, I’m having the most wonderful opportunities coming my way and I’m grabbing them by the you-know-whats and running with it for this new chapter of my life.”

Reflecting on her time on Loose Women, she added: “This show has been part of mine, and my family’s life, for nearly a quarter of a century. I have the most wonderful, wonderful memories.

“I’ve shared my life with you, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m very Marmite, but I cherish all the comments, good or bad, that I’ve had over the years.”

Amid growing public speculation over the state of the show, she moved to clarify her relationship with her fellow cast members, adding: “I’ll miss everybody, but I will remain friends with the whole gang because, despite what you might read, we are a happy band of campers.”

Her announcement triggered an enormous outpouring of support from her fellow panellists, underscoring her reputation as the “beating heart” of the show.

Host Kaye Adams wrote: “You have broken my heart but I shall watch your Den-aissance with love and pride.”

While Nadia Sawalha added: “You are such a fantastic actress. Fly high lovely.”

Scores of fans also told Denise how much they had enjoyed watching her on the programme, though some predicted its decline following her exit and other recent developments.

One person wrote: “It’s not fun to watch anymore and it feels like people are not allowed to have different opinions on the important things! Plus ITV deciding to get the rid of the audience is the beginning of the end. You were my favourite one!”.

Another claimed Loose Women is “grinding to a halt”, while a third added: “I’m glad you jumped before the ship went down.”

The news comes amid separate claims that ITV recently shelved a Loose Women spin-off project as part of sweeping budget cuts across the broadcaster.

In July 2026, reports emerged that ITV executives quietly pulled the plug on a planned Loose Women spin-off podcast.

An insider noted that while the broadcaster remains hopeful for another run in the future, the project will not feature on the immediate calendar due to sweeping cost-cutting measures impacting ITV Daytime.

The One Show has been bringing the nation together each weeknight for the past 20 years.

The beloved BBC show is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month.

For two decades, The One Show has seen countless celebrities appear on the infamous green sofa from the likes of Tom Hanks, Cher, Kate Winslet and Tom Jones.

However, viewers have also seen a plethora of famous faces front the programme since it first aired back in 2006, including the first two presenters it ever had.

Initially, it was commissioned for a four-week trial run, with Adrian Chiles and Nadia Sawalha hosting the first episodes.

On X, someone unearthed the opening scene of the very first episode as Adrian welcomed viewers. In the introduction, he said: “Welcome to the very first One Show, live from the heart of the UK.

“Every day for the next four weeks, we’ll be telling all manner of stories. Good ones, funny ones, happy ones, sad ones, about all sorts of people all over the country.”

Nadia added: “I promise you that by the time we’re done, there won’t be a nook or cranny of this spectre dial we haven’t had a poke around in.”

They captioned the post: “I never knew Nadia Sawalha hosted the first year of The One Show?!! I wonder if she’ll be back for its 20th anniversary?”

People were quick to comment on the post, with many in disbelief over seeing the Loose Women star fronting the BBC series all those years ago.

One person said: “Was a pilot series, then Myleene Klass replaced Nadia when it went full-time, then Christine Bleakley came in. Wonder if Chris Evans, Jason Manford or Jermaine Jenas will make an appearance.”

Someone else added: “God, it feels like Alex Jones has been there foreeeeeeeeever.” As another shared: “She did the four-week pilot, before it became ‘always on’ the following year. I’m sure she was replaced by Mylene for a few weeks and then Christine.”

Nadia presented the show for its four-week run before she was replaced by Myleene Klass and later Christine Lampard before Alex Jones took over and has remained a staple on the programme for 16 years.

Speaking about being a long-running staple on the show, Alex commented: “I can’t believe it. Ultimately, it’s not about us who host it. The show itself is an institution, and it’s really found a way into people’s hearts. Especially since the pandemic I think, it’s become part of Britain’s daily routine.

“People switch on at 7pm and they know that they will get really good guests but also there’s always interesting VTs or we’re out around the UK celebrating individuals who’ve done something amazing in their community. It’s impossible to turn The One Show on and say I hate everything. I just don’t believe that you can.”

The One Show is available to watch weekdays on BBC One from 7pm

Saira Khan has candidly revealed why quit Loose Women as she claimed she was “treated unfairly” and received death threats during her time on the ITV chat show

Saira Khan has revealed why she really left Loose Women after Nadia Sawalha claimed she’s been dropped by ITV.

The former Apprentice star, 56, joined the ITV chat show in 2015 and spent five years debating live on air alongside the likes of Ruth Langsford, Coleen Nolan and Nadia Sawalha but eventually made the tough decision to leave the high-paying TV job after even her children had started to realise she had been treated “unfairly” during the height of her fame.

She said: “When you’re new, it’s really hard because it’s such a clique. You’ve got to prove yourself. But I aligned myself to Coleen and Ruth pretty quickly because I could relate to them. It was a hard decision to leave because I’d done it for a long time. No matter what you give to the media, you don’t get the thanks back, there’s no loyalty and you can be dropped. I saw people giving less but getting more. My kids said, ‘You’re not being treated fair, mum.’

“As a parent, I had to show that you don’t stick around. It doesn’t matter how good the job is. Financially, it was really hard to say goodbye to that.” Saira also claimed that because she was expected to be the one on the panel to talk about tough political subjects, she ended up receiving death threats.

She said: “The problem is, for someone like me, I then get stereotyped. ‘Oh, we’re talking about terrorism, bring Saira in, we’re talking about grooming gangs, bring her in.’ But I couldn’t do any of the fun stuff. So if you keep bringing me out talking about that stuff, that is stereotyping.

“I’d run two marathons, I like to snowboard, I’ve travelled around the world. None of that was ever explored. So people thought I was gobby and opinionated and a one-trick pony.

“I got death threats. Honestly, my husband was really scared for me. I got quite a few death threats and and I just said, ‘Steve, if I get shot the head for something I believe in, that’s my fate. I can’t do anything about that.”

Saira, who is married to Steve Hyde and has Zac, 18, as well as 15-year-old Amara with him, also co-hosted The Martin Lewis Money Show before going on to take part in in Dancing On Ice and Celebrity Big Brother during her her mainstream television career.

Elsewhere in the chat, Saira, who now focuses on managing her skincare business, admitted that she thrilled that neither of her children want to pursue a career in the spotlight after her own tumultuous experience.

Speaking on the Nolans Uncensored podcast, she explained: “Both of my kids have no interest in the media and I think it’s because of what they saw me go through. I’m really happy about that. The industry is changing, for me I’ve always seen it as a business and because it doesn’t see itself as a business, it’s not in such a great place right now.”

Saira’s frank comments come just days after Nadia Sawalha, also a long-serving panellist on Loose Women, spoke out about her lengthy absence from the show and threatened legal action, claiming ITV bullied her out of her job.

The former EastEnders star, who has not been seen on the show since April despite previously appearing up to three times a week for years, thinks she is being targeted for speaking out for Palestinian rights and was worried that police officers could come knocking on her door.

She told The Mirror: “I accept that there is a huge risk I will never work in television again.”

Colleagues have offered Nadia support, but she claimed many are too scared to do so publicly. She said two well-known faces at ITV reacted to an Instagram video she posted on her threat to sue the network.

But Nadia added: “I deleted it because I don’t want these people to be phased out. I feel sad that there is an atmosphere of fear that if they were to be seen to be supporting me, their career could be at risk. I don’t believe for one second the head of daytime wanted me off that show, I feel for her.”

The Mirror has contacted ITV for comment

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