January 15th 2024.
ITV has received backlash for featuring a predominantly male line-up on Saturday evening. Many people have taken notice of this, including comedy writer Laura Claxton. Her post on X, formerly known as Twitter, has garnered over 3,000 likes and has been viewed over 370,000 times. In her post, she pointed out that all of the presenter decisions for the broadcaster's entertainment shows on Saturday were made by men, starting from 5pm. This included The Chase Celebrity Special, Wheel of Fortune, The Masked Singer, Ant & Dec's Limitless Win, Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad, and Big Zuu's 12 Dishes in 12 Hours. The pattern continued even after a break from the news, with the documentary The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth: Social Media Murders, which explored the tragic killing of a woman in February 2022.
Laura's tweet read, "Tonight ITV have got 2 men hosting a quiz, followed by 2 men going on holiday, followed by 2 men going on holiday to eat some food, followed by a documentary about a woman being murdered." This caught the attention of many, including X user Jon Techilovsky, who challenged Laura's criticism and asked her to look at ITV's daytime schedule, which includes shows like Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women. However, Laura quickly responded by pointing out that these shows do not represent the entirety of ITV's schedule, and there are still many male-dominated shows on during the day, such as The Chase, Tipping Point, and James Martin's Spanish Adventure.
Laura then explained her point of view in a follow-up post, stating, "So many people are missing the point of this. Let women be silly! Let women host entertainment shows! Let women prat about on a holiday! Don't let broadcasters continue to focus women's representation on TV around trauma." She also noted that this issue is not exclusive to ITV, as other channels like BBC One also had a similar line-up on Saturday night.
Many people have shared their thoughts on this topic, with some agreeing that there needs to be more female representation on prime-time shows, while others have pointed out that ITV does have female hosts in other entertainment shows, such as Zoe Ball on Mamma Mia! I Have a Dream, Davina McCall on My Mum, Your Dad, Maya Jama on Love Island, and Holly Willoughby on Dancing On Ice.
It's important to note that this is not just a problem with ITV, as other channels also have a lack of female representation in their prime-time shows. However, this issue should not be ignored, and it's essential for broadcasters to include diverse voices and perspectives in their programming.
If you have a story or want to share your thoughts on this topic, you can contact the entertainment team at The Agency by emailing us, calling 020 3615 2145, or visiting our Submit Stuff page. We would love to hear from you.
In other news, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the former ITV host, Phillip Schofield, after his exit from the channel and his affair scandal. And recently, a petition to strip a Post Office boss of their CBE has gained over 1,000,000 signatures after the drama was aired on ITV. It's clear that ITV continues to make headlines, and we'll have to wait and see how they address the issue of female representation in their prime-time shows.
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