ITV was left counting the cost after the death of The Queen last September.

The broadcaster lost £9 million when it was forced to junk a number of episodes of the satirical puppet show Spitting Image, which featured the monarch and ‘could not be effectively edited’ to remove her. In its annual report this week, ITV also said it had incurred ‘significant additional costs’ related to extra news coverage, totalling around £7 million.

Not counted was the financial impact of an advertising blackout during the period directly after the Queen died.