Comedian Lee Peart has announced his departure from the ITV daytime show after the live studio audience is axed
16:06, 11 Dec 2025
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
A regular face on Loose Women has said an emotional goodbye to colleagues after eight years on the ITV programme.
Earlier this year, ITV announced significant changes to its daytime line-up, with Loose Women, Lorraine, This Morning and Good Morning Britain all impacted by the shake-up.
From January 2026, the programmes will be broadcast from a new central London location and will follow a revised scheduling pattern.
The overhaul will see Loose Women returning to its former 12.30pm to 1.30pm slot on a 30-week “seasonal basis”.
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Loose Women will also be dropping its live studio audience, which means comedian Lee Peart will no longer be working as the warm-up act, a position he has held since 2017, reports the Mirror.
The performer announced his departure in an emotional social media post this week, sharing a photograph of himself alongside panellists Ruth Langford, Gloria Hunniford and Kellé Bryan.
He wrote: “Two weeks today will be my final Loose Women! A bittersweet end of an era… the goodbyes are starting as it’s the last time I’ll work with Ruth, Gloria and Kellie in this capacity!”.
Unsurprisingly, Lee has been flooded with messages of support from fans since posting on Facebook.
Lee Peart with Ruth Langsford, Gloria Hunniford and Kellé Bryan(Image: Facebook)
One social media user commented: “We’ve been twice with you as the warm up man, you’re very funny, even funnier when one of the women in the audience takes a shine to you.”
Another person remarked: “I was literally just thinking about how close Christmas is and it being your last couple of weeks at LW! I’m sure they’ll miss you as much you’ll miss them! Thank you for the times I came to the show and was your guest. I loved every visit and you were so kind and brilliant. Take Care, Lee.”
A third individual expressed: “Gutted it’s changing as a regular in the audience but I wish you good luck in the future.”
A fourth chimed in: “The legend Lee, we’ll miss you on Loose Women!”.
Original Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha, who joined the ITV show in 1999, addressed the axing of her “dear friend” Lee during an episode of her Coffee Moaning podcast with husband Mark Adderley.
She explained at the time: “From next year there will be no Loose Women audience,” she said. “I am totally devastated by this fact, I can’t get over it at all.
“Not only because the audience is so important for the show, but also my dear friend Lee who I work with every day.”
The ITV changes will also see Lorraine moving to a 30-week schedule with episodes running from 9.30am until 10am, while This Morning will continue to air from 10am until 12.30pm.
The running time for Good Morning Britain will be increased by 30 minutes for each episode, running from 6am until 9.30am. These episodes will be extended by a further 30 minutes when Lorraine isn’t on air.
