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Love Island fans will now have even longer to wait for the new series, as next year’s winter run has been cancelled. 

It had already been announced that this summer’s series would not be going ahead as planned due to coronavirus, but now bosses have pulled the plug on the January series too. 

Instead, the ITV2 reality show will return in summer 2021, with a longer series than usual. 

Bosses have decided that given the uncertainty around travel restrictions amid the pandemic that it is better to pour their efforts into creating one bumper series next year. 

The news was first reported by The Sun, and a spokesperson for the show told HuffPost UK: “Love Island UK will return bigger and better than ever with an extended run in summer 2021.”

The decision comes at a time when pre-production on the winter series would just be about to start.

Love Island launched its first-ever winter edition in Cape Town, South Africa, in January, following the massive success of the 2019 edition, which saw over 5 million people tuning in each night. 

While the winter run – which was won by Paige Turley and Finn Tapp – could not quite match the huge ratings, it was still a hit for ITV2, averaging 4m viewers. 

At the beginning of last month, ITV boss Kevin Lygo announced that this summer’s series would not be going ahead in Mallorca, Spain, as it was not “possible to produce it in a way that safeguards the wellbeing of everyone involved.”

As a way of filling the gap in the schedule, ITV2 is airing a repeat of the 2018 series of the Australian version from Monday, having previously run it in a late-night slot on sister channel ITVBe.