ITV Halts Production on Nine Shows Amid Budget Cuts

ITV has suspended the filming of new episodes for nine of its popular television programs as part of significant budget cuts impacting the channel's schedule. Shows such as The 1% Club, The Chase, and Long Lost Family are among those affected, with networks opting to broadcast repeats in place of new content. Some of these programs are slated to return later this year, while others may not resume with new episodes until 2027.

This development follows earlier budget cuts that necessitated the relocation of filming for daytime shows including Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women. Good Morning Britain has also moved its production to the same facility as ITN, the news division of ITV.

The nine shows placed on hold are The 1% Club, The Chase, Beat The Chasers, Long Lost Family, Deal Or No Deal, Romesh Ranganathan's Parents' Evening, Password, Bullseye, and Josie Gibson's Big Country Build.

An ITV spokesperson stated, "ITV's schedules are confirmed and billed two weeks in advance of broadcast. Until this point all scheduling is subject to change." The 1% Club still has eight unaired episodes that were originally scheduled for last month. The Chase has aired repeats for the past two weeks, with new episodes reportedly set to resume in November. Mark Labbett, a star of The Chase, expressed concern on social media, noting that "Repeats are becoming the norm" and that ITV is "not making a lot of anything right now."

Beat The Chasers, a spin-off of The Chase, has also been temporarily halted, with new episodes anticipated next year. The 16th series of Long Lost Family, which began last month, is currently being replaced by reruns. Contestants from Deal Or No Deal have also indicated that their filmed episodes have been postponed from their original air dates last month.

Romesh Ranganathan's Parents' Evening is not expected to air new episodes until 2027, though a Christmas special is scheduled for December. Similarly, a second series of Stephen Mangan's Password has been pushed back to 2027 from its originally planned 2026 release. A new series of the Bullseye revival, hosted by Freddie Flintoff, has been delayed until spring. Josie Gibson's Big Country Build, which was slated to premiere this year, has been removed from the schedule entirely.

In May 2025, ITV announced substantial cuts to its daytime programming, leading to over 220 job losses. As part of these changes, Lorraine and Loose Women were scheduled to be significantly reduced in duration, with Lorraine's runtime cut by 30 minutes. Lorraine Kelly's show will now share its 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. slot with Good Morning Britain for 22 weeks of the year. For the remaining 30 weeks, Lorraine will air five days a week, rendering Friday stand-in presenters unnecessary. ITV sources indicated that these cuts were intended to free up resources for investment in drama programming. Additionally, ITV Studios will no longer produce Good Morning Britain, with ITN taking over production.