The Voice UK’s live shows postponed until later in 2020 due to coronavirus

The Voice UK 2020 live shows will start on TV this month (March), ITV has announced.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the live semi-final and final will be postponed until later in the year.

A date for when The Voice UK live shows will take place has not yet been confirmed.

ITV said: “The Voice UK knockouts, which are pre-recorded, will continue to be broadcast this weekend…

“We have, however, taken the difficult decision to postpone until later this year The Voice UK’s live semi final and final, which were due on air on the 28th March and 4th April, and are working to replace them in the schedule with some bespoke Voice specials.”

The Voice UK 2020 has featured Olly Murs, Will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and new coach Meghan Trainor in the spinning red chairs.

This weekend saw them pick their final acts for the now postponed live shows.

While The Voice UK has seen filming halted, other live shows are going ahead but without studio audiences.

ITV said: “Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway will air this weekend without a live audience for the first time and we appreciate the huge efforts, across production, our on screen talent and commissioning, that have gone into making that happen.”

Meanwhile, episodes of soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale will be reduced.

ITV shared in a statement: “Through a mix of changes to production and scheduling we are confident that we can keep broadcasting new episodes of both shows over the coming months.

“On the production front we are filming with fewer cast and crew and we’re scaling back location shooting whilst adhering to the Government’s guidelines.

“From a scheduling point of view we will reduce the planned 12 episodes a week to eight episodes a week from Monday 30 March.

“Emmerdale will air Monday to Friday at 7pm and Coronation Street Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7.30pm.

Earlier in the week, the BBC announced it had stopped production completely on EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City and Doctors due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest has also been cancelled, with hopes of staging it again in Rotterdam in 2021.

And it was revealed on Monday that Line Of Duty and Peaky Blinders have stopped filming while on Tuesday the BAFTA TV Awards were postponed until later in 2020.