TV schedules suspended following the death of Queen Elizabeth II

TV schedules have been suspended following the death of Queen Elizabeth II after she passed away peacefully on September 8, aged 96.

The BBC and ITV began covering news of Her Majesty’s ill health following a statement from Buckingham Palace, with Channel 4 and Channel 5 following suit.

As the country enters a period of mourning, regular television programmes have been taken off air, with This Morning, Loose Women and soaps cancelled. 

ITV will air The Queen Remembered throughout the night with Good Morning Britain beginning at 6AM with Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard. 

An Extended News Special will then be broadcast for the rest of the day with Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women as well as Emmerdale and Coronation Street cancelled. 

In the evening the channel will play Queen Elizabeth II – The Longest Reign, before continuing on to The News At Ten. 

Cancelled: The BBC and ITV began covering news of Her Majesty’s ill health following a statement from Buckingham Palace, with Channel 4 and Channel 5 following suit (The Queen pictured on Coronation Street in 2021)

Mark of respect: ITV has also taken Emmerdale off air and it is not yet known when channels will return planned programming

The BBC must uphold editorial restrictions following the death of Her Majesty for a number of days and whilst others are not required to do so they have conformed. 

Both Emmerdale and Coronation have been cancelled for the rest of the week, schedule’s are subject to change and it is not yet known when channels will return planned programming. 

Her son Charles, the former Prince of Wales, is now King Charles III, as the world grieves his mother, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. 

Off air: An Extended News Special will be broadcast for the rest of the day on ITV with Lorraine being cancelled 

Programming: This Morning will also be off air to make way for special coverage 

All Her Majesty’s children had rushed to Balmoral today after doctors became ‘concerned’ for her health. Hours later she died, surrounded by her family.

At 6.30pm her death was confirmed. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow’.

The Queen’s death will see Britain and her Commonwealth realms enter into a ten-day period of mourning as millions of her subjects in the UK and abroad come to terms with her passing.

King Charles III released this poignant statement reacting to the death of his ‘beloved mother’ as he took the throne today

Her Majesty the Queen – Britain’s longest-reigning monarch –  died peacefully at Balmoral aged 96. Her son Charles, is now king. He will remain at Balmoral tonight before returning to London with the Queen Consort, Camilla

And as her son accedes to the throne, there will also be a celebration of her historic 70-year reign that saw her reach her Platinum Jubilee this year – a landmark unlikely to be reached again by a British monarch. 

Charles, the King, said: ‘The death of my beloved mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family.

‘We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.

‘During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held.’

The Queen poses for a photograph in the drawing room at Balmoral shortly before her meeting with Ms Truss, whom she appointed as her Prime Minister

Tributes are already pouring in for Her Majesty, to many the greatest Briton in history and undoubtedly the most famous woman on earth. To billions around the world she was the very face of Britishness.

To her subjects at home, Her Majesty was the nation’s anchor, holding firm no matter what storm she or her country was facing – from the uncertain aftermath of the Second World War to, more recently, the pandemic. She was also steadfast as she dealt with tragedies and scandals in her own family, most recently the fallout from Megxit and the death of her beloved husband Prince Philip.

Charles will embark on a tour of the UK before his mother’s funeral with his wife Camilla, who the Queen announced would be crowned her eldest son’s Queen Consort in an historic statement to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee and 70 years on the throne on February 6.

The Queen’s passing came more than a year after that of her beloved husband Philip, her ‘strength and guide’, who died aged 99 in April 2021. 

Since his funeral, where she poignantly sat alone because of lockdown restrictions, her own health faltered, and she was forced to miss an increasing number of events mainly due to ‘mobility problems’ and tiredness.

It began when Princess Elizabeth was formally proclaimed Queen on February 8, 1952. She was crowned in Westminster Abbey (pictured) on June 2, 1953 – by coincidence the same day a joyous nation learned a Commonwealth team had conquered Mount Everest