New look Loose Women

There was a Loose at 5:30 co-hoest by Ted Robbins (a man!), can't remember if the normal format also got a run out at that time.

One of the final series of Des & Mel moved to the 5pm slot, think it might have moved back to earlier in the afternoon before it's axe though. It was a bit of a surprised when it dropped really.

Didn't they give one of his security guards a similar show too?

Quite, if it's still making money for them. You'd have though Springer might have grown out of it by now though.

If it pays the bills what can you do.

I would imagine it's the amount of adverts shoved in between that pays the bills...

Yes, the Steve Wilkos show, he's more in the vein of Jeremy Kyle than Springer from what I've seen of it.

There was a Loose at 5:30 co-hosted* by Ted Robbins (a man!), can't remember if the normal format also got a run out at that time.

Carol McGiffin quits 'Loose Women'

The 53-year-old announced her departure in her Sunday People column, which she wrote before entering the Celebrity Big Brother house on Thursday (August 22).

"I'm not returning to ITV's lunchtime talk show Loose Women, the job I've done for more than a decade. When it returns on September 9 for its 18th series I will no longer be sitting on the panel," McGiffin said.

"I am sure that some of you will rejoice at this news but, I think, those who might not be so pleased deserve some sort of explanation. I'd been thinking about it for at least a year.

"It seems totally mad to quit one of the best jobs in the world - and it is one of the best jobs in the world - where you chat for an hour on television with like-minded women and get paid ­reasonably well for it.
"But I felt as if I'd completely plundered my private life and exhausted my repertoire of anecdotes to the point of actually boring myself. I hadn't realised that after nearly 13 years, I'd appeared on 1,172 episodes of Loose Women.

"So it wasn't an easy decision and it certainly wasn't made lightly. I can't say I've enjoyed every single minute but I've had so many laughs and made so many friends. The show has been such a big and important part of my life for so long.

"I will miss everyone a lot, especially the behind-the-scenes teams who over the years have all worked so hard. But mostly life will be weird without the daily banter with my mates, the other women, though I'm sure that we will stay in touch."

McGiffin, who was the longest-serving panel member, is now looking for "new avenues and fresh adventures", but insisted that doing Celebrity Big Brother - which she has ruled out in the past - had nothing to do with quitting Loose Women.

It had been rumoured that McGiffin was facing the axe from the show as producers look to freshen it up to boost ratings.

Pretty sure it did when ITV were mucking about with the teatime slots before the news at 6pm...

Rather shocked to hear of Carol's departure. Can't imagine the show without her.

Am I alone in thinking that the current Loose Women is actually quite good and very watchable? I didn't really think it was as bad as the press made it out to be. I know it's gone through some ups and downs over the years, as I've pointed out myself, but I thought it was actually on a roll just now.