Good Morning Britain cancelled between Christmas and New Year due to Covid

Good Morning Britain has been pulled off air over Christmas and New Year following concerns over Covid.

ITV have revised their morning schedule in a bid to keep presenters and crew members safe against growing Omicron concerns.

An ITV spokesperson confirmed GMB’s break, and while there will be a pre-recorded Christmas Day special, which will air from 7-9 am, the breakfast show won’t officially return to screens until January 4th 2022.

They said: “GMB was due to be on air from Wednesday 29th - Friday 31st December 2021, but due to the pandemic and to protect our teams, we have decided to give them an extended break. 

“GMB will not broadcast next week, but will be back on air on Tuesday 4th Jan 2022.”

According to The Sun, the final pre-Christmas shows plan to go ahead, but presenters have been asked to do their own makeup and nobody else will be allowed in the studio.

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A source told the publication that the move to lose an entire week of a flagship show is “unheard of.”

“It just shows how alarmed everyone is within the network and on the show itself,” they said.

“We even aired throughout the height of the pandemic, but lately it is becoming near impossible with staffing shortages and fears about the Christmas period being derailed for everyone.

“Hopefully, things will get back to normal early in the New Year – it’s a big blow for the network, and for advertising too.”

Monday’s episode of Lorraine, presented by Andi Peters, was forced to broadcast from the same studio as GMB to reduce the number of crew members. 

Lorraine generally hits screens at 9am following Good Morning Britain. However, the 9 am timeslot will now merge the two as Good Morning Britain with Lorraine.