{"id":1147381,"date":"2026-08-14T03:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1147381\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T03:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:29:23","slug":"itv-loose-women-favourite-quits-after-25-years-on-the-show-as-actress-tales-massive-leap-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1147381\/","title":{"rendered":"ITV Loose Women favourite ‘quits’ after 25 years on the show as actress tales ‘massive leap of faith’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denise Welch is understood to have stepped away from Loose Women to dedicate herself fully to her acting career, bringing to a close a lengthy stint on the ITV daytime programme.<\/p>\n

The former Coronation Street star is understood to have made the decision after securing roles in several new productions.<\/p>\n

Ms Welch first appeared on the lunchtime chat show more than two decades ago and became one of its most recognisable faces.<\/p>\n

According to reports, the panellist’s true passion has always been performing, and she now intends to channel all her professional energy into that pursuit.<\/p>\n

\"Denise<\/p>\n

Denise Welch is understood to have stepped away from Loose Women <\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Ms Welch made her debut on Loose Women as a guest panellist in 2002, three years after the show first launched. <\/p>\n

By 2005, she had established herself as a permanent fixture on the panel.<\/p>\n

After an eight-year run, she departed the programme in 2013, only to make a comeback five years later in 2018.<\/p>\n

Since her return, she has been a regular presence on the show, contributing to discussions alongside fellow panellists for a further eight years.<\/p>\n

\"Denise<\/p>\n

Denise Welch made her debut on Loose Women as a guest panellist in 2002<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Her association with Loose Women stretches back roughly a quarter of a century, during which time she became one of the programme’s most enduring and well-known contributors.<\/p>\n

A source described the move to The Sun as “the end of an era.” They added: “She is taking a massive leap of faith and going to focus solely on her acting which, really, has always been her first great love.<\/p>\n

“Now is the time to pursue her dreams, although she will be devastated to wave goodbye to her Loose friends and colleagues. She will be sorely missed.”<\/p>\n

GB News has approached ITV, who has not yet responded to requests for comment on the reports.<\/p>\n

\"Denise<\/p>\n

Denise Welch is understood to be stepping back from Loose Women to focus on her acting career<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Ms Welch’s career before Loose Women included prominent television roles, most notably on Coronation Street. She also featured in Waterloo Road 2006 to 2010 and starred in Hollyoaks for a year.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ms Welch’s Loose Women co-star Nadia Sawalha recently threated to sue ITV over her removal from the show.<\/p>\n

Ms Sawalha is alleging the broadcaster removed her from the panel because of her public support for Palestinian rights. <\/p>\n

Her legal representatives have issued a pre-action letter to the network, accusing it of “subjected Nadia to direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment because of her protected philosophical beliefs”. <\/p>\n

In an Instagram video, the presenter claimed she had been “the target of an escalating campaign of smears, complaints, hostile media coverage and targeted calls to have me removed from Loose Women.”<\/p>\n

She stated that ITV had repeatedly taken her on and off the programme. <\/p>\n

According to Ms Sawalha, ITV’s explanation for removing her from the show was, as she quoted the broadcaster: “It’s all a bit noisy out there for us.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denise Welch is understood to have stepped away from Loose Women to dedicate herself fully to her acting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1147382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4781,13,208,12,14,382],"class_list":["post-1147381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-celebrity","tag-headlines","tag-itv","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-tv"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117091746889306171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1147381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1147382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}