ITV is at risk of neglecting women viewers with Lorraine and Loose Women cuts

The sight of a 50-year-old man complacently flirting with his whole-generation-younger female co-anchor is mercifully a thing of the past. TV drama has seen the late blossoming careers of Monica Dolan, Siobhan Finneran and Lesley Manville. Next season’s Match of the Day will have two female presenters among its hosting line-up, and nobody these days is called upon to give anyone else a twirl.

What a shame, then, that when it comes to focusing on actual content for women, ITV bosses have pulled the handbrake.

The good news, if you’re a drama or sports producer, is that the broadcaster has pledged to dig into its coffers to fund more series of the pedigree of Mr Bates vs The Post Office, and to add more polish to its coverage of next year’s World Cup. The bad news is that it’s going to take an axe to programmes hosted by women for mostly women to make it happen.

ITV confirmed last week that both Lorraine and Loose Women will be cut to 30 weeks a year, with the former halved to a mere 30 minutes on air. This is a programme that has a 65-year-old female host at its helm and was the very first to champion Dame Deborah James’s campaign for bowel cancer awareness.

Similarly, Loose Women launched a campaign last year, Facing It Together, highlighting domestic violence and earning the show a RTS Award. Their Change and Check campaign was inspired by one of their production staff’s own diagnosis with breast cancer.

Besides such worthy causes, I always enjoy the panel’s welcome to big overseas stars: sometimes nosy, sometimes maternal, always clucking with collective charm. Michael Bolton was one wide-eyed guest greeted by what host Andrea McLean called “a wave of menopausal heat” but he’s been a guest eight times so clearly didn’t mind.

But what gives this show a thrust not replicated elsewhere is all the in-between chat. For 25 years, a rotating panel of women have discussed, debated, often crossed swords, on everything from bikinis to box sets, Botox to badly behaved boyfriends.

While much of this may seem dispensable filler to TV creatives – let’s be honest, still mostly men plotting their next big-budget drama from their members’ club – it remains an indispensable forum on subjects that would otherwise go ignored on TV.

The “30 weeks a year” promise is a red herring. Ken Bruce didn’t become the country’s most beloved radio voice by taking almost half the year off. Much of the value of a show like this lies in its consistency, its reliable footing in the schedule for many viewers who consider it an essential part of their daily routine.

With this move, ITV bosses are saying that doesn’t matter, which is the same as saying those viewers don’t matter. At a time of freefall in audience figures as well as advertising revenue, to disregard such a loyal contingent seems reckless and cruel.

One of the show’s great strengths is its line-up – women of different ages, colour and backgrounds from Janet Street-Porter to Coleen Nolan via Judi Love.

Now reports say that the older brigade fear they will be squeezed out in favour of younger faces. That, too, would be an oversight: these women bring with them their full, complicated lives; they have stories to tell, mistakes to share, wisdom to impart. In a word: substance.

It may be a noble cause to pursue more Post Office and World Cup glory on “the other channel” but come on, ITV, don’t go throwing the boomer out with the bathwater.

The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here.

Visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.