Loose Women heartache as beloved staff member leaves programme amid ITV shake-up

The Loose Women panellists shared their heartbreak after a beloved staff member announced their departure from the programme after four years of working on the set. Ruth Langsford and Coleen Nolan were among the stars who paid tribute to their pal on social media.

Jordan Rowley announced the news of his departure, which comes amid ITV's scheduling shake-up, on his Instagram page along with a slew of throwback pictures from his time working on the show. He included selfies taken with the cast, including Kaye Adams, Frankie Bridge, Ruth, Coleen, Alison Hammond, Rylan Clark and Katie Piper.

In the emotional goodbye, he said: "And just like that, my final day at ITV Daytime has arrived.

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"In my late twenties, I made the daunting decision to try my hand at an industry I’d always dreamt of working in and was lucky enough to secure the position of a runner on Loose Women."

"Four years later I’ve worked across two of the countries most iconic television programmes and have gone from making teas and coffees to producing my very own shows, something my younger self could only have dreamt of."

Jordan continued: "I can’t begin to explain how amazing the last four years have been. I’ve been so lucky to work with some of the most talented people in the industry, both on and off screen and have genuinely made friends for life.

"This next chapter is both terrifying and exciting but one that would never have been a possibility if it wasn’t for ITV and the wonderful people that I’ve worked with there. So, in the words of our Queen Adele - I’ll never learn if I never leap… and I’m off to leap."

Coleen rushed to the comment section to say: "Going to really Miss you! Go now and fly. You deserve it," along with a heart emoji. Nadia Sawalha posted: "We will miss you so much ! Don’t be a stranger ! Drinkie poos soon !".

Ruth re-posted a photo he took with her and said on her Instagram Stories: "If you love somebody, set them free! Goodbye and good luck to my lovely friend. It's been an absolute pleasure working with you...... now go fly!!"

It comes amid a plethora of budget cuts for ITV, which will see both Loose Women and Lorraine Kelly's eponymous programme cut to 30 weeks of the year.

During the weeks Lorraine is not on air, Good Morning Britain will run from 6am to 10am. This Morning will remain in its 10am-12.30pm slot on weekdays throughout the year, while Loose Women will be in the 12.30-1.30pm slot for a seasonal basis of 30 weeks too.

Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, explained of the huge changes: "Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.

"These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever.

"I recognise that our plans will have an impact on staff off screen in our Daytime production teams." He added: "We will work with ITV Studios and ITN as they manage these changes to produce the shows differently from next year, and support them through this transition.

"Daytime has been a core element of ITV’s schedule for over 40 years and these changes will set ITV up to continue to bring viewers award winning news, views and discussion as we enter our eighth decade."

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