Loose Women ‘Too White’ Says Trisha

Former ITV personality hits out at Loose Women.

Trisha, not enough mix of backgrounds on Loose Women.

Talk show host Trisha Goddard, currently seeking new television work after her Channel Five series was axed, has hit out at ITV’s long running daytime debate show Loose Women for ‘only having white presenters’; despite the fact that from the show’s launch in 1999 through to 2002 mixed-race actress and presenter Nadia Sawalha co-hosted the programme alongside Kaye Adams.

Goddard, who was a regular panellist on the programme during its 2003 run, has hit out at the ‘posh’ producers for failing to use panellists from various ethnic backgrounds. The programme has changed over the past few years with many rotating guest talking-heads dropped for the same regulars including singer Jane MacDonald and actress Sherrie Hewson. The programme has also come in for criticism of dumbing down while its stateside original, The View, carries on with a highbrow mix of political debate and social discussions along with a mix of celebrity guests and gossip. The UK version is seemingly becoming more obsessed with the latter two only according to its critics and some viewers.

Loose Women at Anglia, when it shared the same set with Trisha.

Speaking to Bang Showbusiness Trisha commented on the lack of black and Asian faces on Loose Women:

“It is very white, middle-class. If your staff come from a predominantly under-privileged area and socio-economic group, you are going to reflect that. There are a lot of people who are from non-Anglo backgrounds who would be fantastic on that show. It would be nice to have more of a representative mixture because we are a hotch-potch society.”

When asked who ITV producers should recruit for the series she suggested former Coronation Street actor and radio presenter Shobna Gulati could be an ideal new host.

The show launched in 1999.

Trisha began life on ITV in 1998 when previous host Vanessa Feltz defected to the BBC after a row over pay. At the time production company Anglia Television said Vanessa had made a “completely unrealistic” pay demand of £2.75m. The Trisha Show switched to Channel Five in 2005 reportedly after ITV refused to let Goddard produce the series herself with her own production company.

Since it was announced her show was being axed in January this year Goddard has, according to sources, been lined up as a radio presenter. Loose Women began life in 1999 originating from Granada Television in Manchester, before switching to Anglia TV in Norwich. In more recent times its moved again, to ITV’s main studios in London.