ITV drama’s The Royal and Heartbeat were at the centre of conflicting reports yesterday as the media widely reported both shows were to be axed due to budget cuts and declining ratings while ITV insisted production on both shows was merely being rested. So have both shows been axed or are they merely being rested? Find out here.
Yesterday morning it was reported that ITV drama’s The Royal and Heartbeat were both to be axed by ITV due to budget cuts at the broadcaster and declining ratings for both dramas. However, by the afternoon ITV were denying they had axed the drama’s and were insisting both shows were a vital part of the schedules – however, no new series’ of the show would be commissioned just yet. So what’s the truth? Have both shows’ been axed or are they safe?
Heartbeat and The Royal are still currently in production, producing new episodes for already commissioned seasons by ITV. However, once production wraps on both drama’s no new episodes will be filmed until at least 2011 – if at all.
ITV, once filming has wrapped on both drama’s, will have enough episodes stockpiled to last them until next year – 2010 – and will likely air these episodes next year.
Ratings for both drama’s have been declining over the past year with both shows losing half their audiences. The Royal usually averages around four million per episode now while Heartbeat fares slightly better with between four to five million.
The future of both show’s depend very much on how well they perform in the ratings over the remainder of this year and next year.
In all likely hood though once production wraps on both shows it will be very hard to resume production in two years as most of the cast will have moved onto other shows and projects – they have bills to pay after all. Also there’s the question of the sets which will either be placed in storage, which costs, or destroyed. Also bringing back the crew will be as equally difficult as bringing back the cast so unless ITV commits to new episodes now in all honesty it will be extremely difficult to revive either show in 2011. So neither show has been officially axed but there will be no new episodes produced beyond those already ordered and no firm commitment for more episodes in the future.