Sherrie Hewson laments Loose Women's changes saying 'we had the freedom back then'

Sherrie Hewson says she doesn't recognise Loose Women now as she reflects on her glittering 70 year career. National treasure, Sherrie, 75, enjoyed over a decade on the ITV lunchtime panel show until she quit in 2016. She has returned to the show as a guest a handful of times since. The programme has undergone a major haul over the last couple of years, with Denise Welch and Nadia Sawalha just two of the big names to depart the show. It has also been cut to just 30 weeks a year out of 52 and the live studio audience has also been removed to keep costings lower. It is a different show to what it once was. " Loose Women in my day was extraordinary, because we didn't have the problems we have now where you can't say that. We didn't have any of that, we just said what we thought," she says. "We had the most I had unbelievable rows with Janet Street-Porter, but they were real rows. We were still friends afterwards and went out to dinner. You don't see that anymore, but because we had the freedom to do it, it was a very different day." It was claws out on TV but Sherrie insists they were all great friends behind the scenes. "We'd meet each other at eight o'clock in the morning for the meeting, and we'd all have very strong opinions, and the producers would come to us and say, 'You know, is that really what you think?'" It was a different time, but we'd done it for a long time," she says. "Now it's a very different show, because obviously you've got to be very careful, like everything on television now. You've got to be very careful what you say, how you say it. We just said what we thought, and somehow we got away with it!" Sherrie says backstage the show was like a family. " Coleen Nolan is a very old friend, and Carol McGiffin was that too. When I had my divorce, they were all wonderful. We were a family then," she explains. "We knew each other, we knew what was happening, we knew if somebody was not well, or somebody was unhappy or sad, and we all stuck together and got ourselves through whatever bad times we came up against. We all stuck together and helped each other. That's what I I took from that, and what I remember. It was a brilliant time, and I loved the show very much." Loose Women was a revolutionary show at the time of its launch in 1999, with women front and centre in an otherwise male-dominated arena. "Women didn't really have a voice then... You were expected to put up and shut up," Sherrie explains. "Now, women have a very strong voice. You know, they are a powerhouse... they have a really good, strong voice, and can stand up for themselves. And I don't think that's a bad thing. I think that's a good thing." Away from Loose Women, Sherrie has an incredible acting career including her iconic role as Joyce Temple Savage in Benidorm. A role she held for 10 years, Joyce was the manageress of the Solana resort. "Joyce Temple Savage was a gift of a character that Derren Litten wrote for me... It was a fantastic role. And everybody in it, we had the best time. Five months in Spain for 10 years each year, how lucky! Somebody had to do it!" she jokes. There has been talks of a Benidorm revival, something which Sherrie would love to see. "In the difficult world we're living in now... as soon as that music comes, it softens their world, and they feel so much better. And they laugh and laugh. Wouldn't it be great as a film? The Benidorm film! A 2.5 hour film, wouldn't that be fabulous?" she says. Alongside Benidorm, Sherrie had two years in Emmerdale as Lesley Meredith, four years on Coronation Street as Maureen Naylor and most recently as Martha Blake in Hollyoaks. "I always say soap actors are some of the best actors that we have in this country," she says, "There's no time for mistakes. There's no time for second takes. There's no time for rehearsals. They just deliver those scenes brilliantly." In her personal life, Sherrie lost her brother Brett Hutchinson in March 2019. He had been diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable brain tumour. Her show Benidorm Nights is raising vital funds for The Brain Tumour Charity, a cause close to her heart. "Grief is funny because we all have ways of dealing with it. My brother was spectacular. He was chivalrous - just amazing in every way, every part of him was spectacular, and he was spectacular in his life," she says. "I try and hold on to that and remember him as being that, rather than grieving for the rest of my life. He was a rock in the sense of saying, 'Come on. Stop it. You're better than this. Get out there, get your makeup on, and do your hair, and get out there and get on with life." Sherrie is partnering with Remember A Charity Week to urge people to leave a gift in their will to a cause close to their heart. The What’s My Legacy campaign asks people to think about how supporting a charity in their will can make a huge change. New data shows that women are less optimistic about the future than men (36% vs 44%), but more likely to believe they can make a positive difference (77% vs 69%). 47% of women say being a good parent, grandparent or family member is central to their legacy, compared with 36% of men. Only 6% of women have already left a charitable gift in their Will, compared with 11% of men. Just 34% of women are aware of the tax benefits of charitable gifts in Wills, versus 42% of men. Like this s tory? F or more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .