The stars of Loose Women were full of excitement during their latest episode as they had an announcement to make. Christine Lampard was back at the head of the ITV lunchtime show's panel on Wednesday (August 3) and was joined by Coleen Nolan, Janet Street-Porter and Jane Moore.
After teasing they had news to share throughout the hour-long programme, it was Coleen who was finally able to reveal all. She confirmed that Loose Women will welcome back a live audience into the ITV studio in September this year - and the ladies as well as fans were overjoyed with the announcement,
"Over the past two and half years, it’s been a bit lonely and empty in here," 57-year-old Coleen began. "We’ve got our lovely crew, but sorry crew, as much as we love you, it’s not quite enough."
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She then added: "This studio needs filling up, so from early September, we are bringing back the studio audience, guys." Christine Lampard, 43, then commented: "We’ve actually really missed having a studio audience. It’s just us here, it’ll be so lovely to see you all coming back.
"We want to get as many of you as possible to fill up this studio from early September. It’s a chance to meet all of us and of course, you can have a bit of a sneak peek behind the scenes, the bits you don’t get on the telly. Tell all your friends, get all the gang together and come and join us in London for a day out like no other."
As Christine spoke of the change, details of how to apply for the free Loose Women audience tickets appeared on screen. And it clearly caused quite the reaction as later on in the show, the host reported that there'd been so much interest that the website had crashed."
The show was forced to broadcast without a live studio audience for the first time in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak. At the time, a spokesperson for the show said: "In order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, ITV has asked all producers to consider whether shows which normally have a live audience can be made without one.
"Decisions need to be made on a show by show basis, in consultation with commissioning teams [at ITV network] and taking into account the role of the audience in each show. Although we love to have an audience on Loose Women, we are following this guidance and adapting the show during this period so we don't have an audience on set. This will commence from Monday 16th March."
But fans have been sharing their excitement on social media. @Lollymck66 tweeted: "So glad that the audience is coming back @loosewomen I was there in February 2020 just before lockdown and I’ll be there in September. Hope you’ve got @itsleepeart back #LooseWomen." Another said: "Yay! The studio audience to return."
Not everyone, however, was impressed with the prolonged guessing before the announcement was made as well as the news itself. @GJP1357 said: "Exciting news? Bet they're letting the audience back in #LooseWomen." @PGUK78 tweeted: "#LooseWomen @loosewomen are going to be having an audience again I bet. Which actually, I prefer it without." @AngryAgonyAngst added: "Twitter never fails with the #loosewomen hashtag! I'm peeing glitter at the thought of the return of the studio audience! I just can't contain myself!!"
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