Loose Women and four other shows have been cancelled from this week’s ITV broadcast schedule in a massive shake-up, as the broadcast makes room for Cheltenham Festival coverage

Fans of Loose Women and some other ITV favourites could be left diappointed this week as the broadcaster has axed five of it’s shows to make way for Cheltenham Festival to be broadcast.

The horse racing event kicks off on Tuesday 11 March and will run until Friday 14 March, with coverage aired to ITV each day. In order to make way for the festival, which often draws in numerous famous faces, five programmes have been removed from the schedule while others have been moved. After This Morning airs from 10am on ITV1, Loose Women usually follows on straight after, but this week the Cheltenham festival has replaced the panel show, with the main coverage kicking off at 12.45pm

The shake-up is to make room for coverage of Cheltenham festival, which runs across four days from Tuesday until Friday ( 
Image:
Romilly Lockyer, Getty Images

While This Morning has managed to retain it’s slot, the Cat Deeley and Ben Shepherd-fronted show will be finishing 15 minutes earlier than usual.

ITV Racing are also running The Opening Show, which is a preview for the day’s activities, on each day of the festival – with this reportedly running from 9am until 10am. This means that re-runs of 1980s US drama Magnum P.I. have been removed from the regular schedule, while re-runs of British drama Robin of Sherwood have been pushed forward in the schedule.

With the extensive Cheltenham coverage running right up until 5pm, when business as usual resumes and The Chase airs, shows such as Alan Titchmarsh’s Gardening Club, Tipping Point and Lingo , which usually air after Loose Women, appear to have been axed for the week.

Following Cheltenham’s run this week, ITV’s broadcasting schedule is thought to return to its usual running order come Monday 17 March

Split into four days, the festival kicks off with Champion Day, which will see races such as the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Champion Hurdle. The second day is Ladies Day, which is known for the the Queen Mother Champion Chase and contains fashion and style awards for attendees. St. Patrick’s Thursday is the third day of the festival, which often sees a significant Irish presence and contains races such as the Ryanair Chase and the Stayers’ Hurdle. Finally, the festival ends with Gold Cup Day, which sees the Cheltenham Gold Cup, one of the most coveted prizes in racing, awarded.

A number of famous faces are expected to attend the racing festival, with the 2024 run seeing stars such as Josie Gibson, Georgia Toffolo and Sam Thompson flock to the racecourse. Not short of royal presence either, with Princess Anne, Princess Eugenie and Zara Tindall often spotted in the royal box