The summer series of Love Island could be in doubt after ITV bosses ruled out filming the show in the UK.

Kevin Lygo, director of television at ITV, said he would feel “uneasy” about airing a show that sees people “slathering over each other” while the rest of the nation is being told to socially distance during the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, which is being held online this year, Mr Lygo said: “We’re right approaching the moment with Love Island of is it feasible, will Majorca open its doors to hundreds of production people arriving?

“Will there have to be quarantine? All these things. And so we have to factor all of that in and also, what signal might it be sending out if we’re doing a show where everybody is crammed together slathering over each other, and the rest of the world is told don’t go near anyone in the park?

“I’m a little uneasy about that, so we will make a decision in a proper way quite soon, but it affects a lot of people, a big commercial impact for us, there’s 200 people working on that show.”

The summer series, which sees young single people couple up in a villa in Majorca, usually airs in the UK in June.

Lygo said crew and contestants would normally be flying out to Majorca in the next six weeks, adding: “Is that really viable, feasible?

“The team had looked at doing it in Cornwall somewhere, and we feel now in a rushed sense, no, I don’t think making it in the UK, it would be the same show.

“And we don’t want to not make the same show as we have made, because it’s been so successful.”

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The show has been a huge hit for ITV2 and the first winter series, which was filmed in South Africa, was aired earlier this year.

It was later overshadowed by the death of former host Caroline Flack, who took her own life on 15 February at the age of 40.