ITV Daytime’s ratings are not what they once were…
With the recent announcement ITV are planning to cut-screen time for some of their daytime output and merge production teams Bookies have been pondering the future of some these one-time rating-bankers that have lost their appeal for many viewers.
It is 10/11 for Lorraine Kelly’s self-titled series to be ditched before Loose Women, and just Evens for 2026 to be the end of the Lorraine programme after 15 years. It’s 15/8 that Lorraine will be axed in 2028 and 2/1 that that will happen in 2029 or later. It’s 6/5 favourite that Loose Women is axed next year, and 13/8 it makes it to 2027 before being shelved.
ITV dropped a Daytime bombshell on fans last week by revealing a huge schedule shakeup for next year. From January 2026, Lorraine Kelly’s titular chat show will only run for 30 minutes, rather than an hour (about 22 minutes after the breaks are aired) and for 30 weeks of the year instead of the usual 52.
It was speculated that the show had been thrust into the spotlight when a X account last year kept a telly tally on how little Kelly did, hosting 59.9% of her shows in 2024. There was also a tale from Dan Wootton that the new boss who is overseeing these changes ‘fell out’ with Lorraine several years ago and is now serving up dessert.
There were also changes announced for the all-female lunchtime talk show Loose Women, which will also return to a seasonal format, airing for parts of the year rather than all year round. Following the schedule revamp, speculation has been rife about which of Lorraine or Loose Women will be entirely axed first. While they are all severely battered in the ratings, they all do prove popular on social media with their ‘soundbite’ clips, but that may not be enough to keep the ITV stalwarts floating on terrestrial telly as ITV attempts to navigate the murky waters of lower advertising to stop the soon to be 70-year-old channel sinking into further losses financially.
Gambling.com’s Entertainment expert, James Leyfield has been following the news about these programmes and has created markets on the two shows.
Lorraine Next On Chopping Block?
It is 10/11 for Lorraine’s series to be ditched before Loose Women, and just Evens for 2026 to be the end of the Lorraine programme after 15 years. However, if further ITV Daytime cost-cutting is required in the coming years, then the lunchtime show Loose Women (11/10) could make way before Lorraine.
Lorraine ‘Pulling Out All The Stops’
It’s 15/8 that Lorraine will be axed in 2028 and 2/1 that that will happen in 2029 or later. And it looks highly unlikely, at 5/1, that the show hits the axe later this year, before the 2026 plans even take place.
Loose Women Stars’ Shock
It’s 6/5 favourite that Loose Women is axed next year, and 13/8 it makes it to 2027 before being shelved.
From the 1950s to the late 90s ITV’s daytime schedule often changed, but since the mid-2000’s very little has altered, with the fear of new programmes not pulling in audiences due to the changing television landscape seeing many channels, not just ITV, stick to the same programmes in regular slots.
