Actor and former Loose Women panellist Sherrie Hewson has spoken about the change of climate on the long-running ITV chat show, claiming that it is “very different” to what it used to be. Hewson, who featured on Loose Women regularly between 2003 and 2016, reflected on the show’s changing sensibilities, speaking weeks after the departures of presenters Denise Welch and Nadia Sawalha. Welch quit the series in August after 25 years with Loose Women.
Sawalha claimed last month she had been “bullied” into leaving the show, alleging that ITV had temporarily axed her in July amid an “escalating campaign of smears, complaints, hostile media coverage and targeted calls to have me removed”. Both departures follow budget cuts at ITV that resulted in the length of each episode being cut from one hour to 30 minutes, and the studio audience being axed. Speaking to The Mirror, Hewson claimed that Loose Women is “a different show to what it once was”.
We were still friends afterwards and went out to dinner. You don't see that anymore, but because we had the freedom to do it, it was a very different day.” In its current iteration, Hewson claimed that presenters have “to be very careful, like everything on television now. You've got to be very careful what you say, how you say it.
We just said what we thought, and somehow we got away with it!” Sawalha’s departure from the series has proved a controversial topic; the TV star has threatened legal action against ITV, alleging that the broadcaster was “forever changing the goalposts” when it came to her return from her absence in July. She also pointed to her support of Palestine as being a factor in the “campaign” against her. New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial.
Plan auto-renews until cancelled. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. In a video shared on Instagram, Sawalha said: “I want to say how sad I am that it’s got to this.
Believe me, I have appealed to ITV’s hearts and minds, but to no avail. ITV did not respond to a request for comment at the time. Another Loose Women panellist, Dame Kelly Holmes, responded to Sawalha’s post, writing: “This is just not right or just.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
