Ellen and Jimmy Fallon among US chat shows to film without audience

The Ellen DeGeneres Show will not be filmed in front of a live studio audience amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Other US chat shows hosted by James Corden, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah and John Oliver will also stop filming in front of audiences.

In all cases, the shows indicated no staff members had been taken ill, but producers felt performing with live crowds would not be safe.

There are 1,135 cases of the virus across the US, with 38 deaths so far.

Ellen's production company Telepictures said the decision to remove live audiences was taken as a result of "the rapidly changing nature of the Covid-19 outbreak".

"This temporary measure will be reviewed on an ongoing basis and will not impact the production schedule of Ellen," Ellen's production company Telepictures said in their statement.

DeGeneres herself tweeted: "To everyone who was looking forward to coming, I'm so sorry. But I'm doing this for the health of my fans, my staff and my crew.

"It has nothing to do with a warrant for my arrest in the state of Florida," she joked.

Whoopi Goldberg, one of the hosts for US talk show The View, greeted viewers with an empty studio on 11 March.

President Trump has announced sweeping new travel restrictions on Europe in a bid to combat the spread of the virus in the US.

Actor Tom Hanks revealed that he and wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for the virus while he was filming in Australia.

Other US shows which will no longer film in front of studio audiences include Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and The Greg Gutfeld Show on the Fox News channel.

Bee's programme began the policy with immediate effect - filming Wednesday night's show without a live audience.

"Tonight we're talking about the coronavirus, we cancelled our audience to keep everyone safe," Bee said in a trailer for her show broadcast earlier on Wednesday.

Gutfeld's show will start the policy on Saturday and, while Oliver's show and Watch What Happens - presented by Andy Cohen - will follow on Sunday.

All the weeknight talk shows will then stop using audiences from Monday, 16 March.

There is no word yet on whether or not Saturday Night Live will be affected, but the show's next original episode is not scheduled until 28 March.

In the UK, the celebrity version of BBC series Race Across The World has been postponed, with production company Studio Lambert saying that with the support of the BBC, they are delaying the show as it "involves contestants travelling across a number of different countries".

"We will continue to review all productions on a case-by-case basis following the latest news and advice from the Foreign Office, World Health Organisation and Public Health England," they added.

British TV shows with live audiences have been proceeding as normal so far, but BBC One's flagship chat show, hosted by Graham Norton, is not currently in series.

When asked about its plans for shows filmed in front of a live audience, ITV told the BBC its priority was "the well-being and safety of all our people and everyone who works with us on our shows and across our business".

They added: "We are in a developing and dynamic situation so we're complying with the guidance from Public Health England and the World Health Organisation to make sure we keep everyone as safe and secure as possible."

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