When Shows Get Moved

Yesterday it was announced that ITV’s long-running Police drama series, The Bill, was to be moved to a post-watershed slot. The move to post watershed isn’t always a good sign as we explore here as we take a look at some other shows that were moved to after 9pm and then axed.

Yesterday ITV announced that later this year The Bill would move from its current 8pm slot to a post watershed slot and furthermore would lose one of its episodes a week, meaning it would just air on episode a week. It’s worth noting that when The Bill first launched in the 1980s, following its pilot episode, the series wasn’t an all-year round drama like it is today. The drama aired in seasons and more interestingly aired in a 9pm slot and it wasn’t until 1988 that The Bill switched to all-year round format and moved to 8pm, in order to secure more ratings. Now The Bill is to switch back to 9pm or maybe even later in the evening and although ITV say they still have confidence in the Police drama such a move isn’t always a good thing as we explore in this feature.

Brookside [1982 – 2003]

Channel Four’s Liverpool-based soap had been struggling in the ratings for sometime thanks to its sensationalist and unrealistic storylines. Most of the viewers had turned off fed up with the depressing storylines and silly plots so in 2002, the soap’s 20^th anniversary, a revamp was ordered to rein in the soap and bring it back to reality. Phil Redmond decided to achieve this by having another siege on the Close, it had suffered several already, and also dropping a helicopter on the parade – killing off several characters. Perhaps unsurprisingly Channel Four weren’t impressed with the revamp and didn’t hang around to see whether or not it would work on-screen. The channel quickly moved the soap out of its pre-watershed slot and Brookside then faced a constant shift in its slot. The soap moved to its weekend omnibus before shifting to a late-night slot where it lived out the remainder of its run before the axe fell. On the soaps 21^st anniversary it bowed out in a late-night slot and a rant from character Jimmy Corkhill.

Night And Day [2001 – 2003]

Tea-time soap Night And Day was commissioned by ITV to replace the departed Home and Away, which had switched homes to Five. However, tea-time audiences didn’t take to the bizarre and complicated plots in the new soap and after six months ITV announced the soap would move. Night And Day had a late-night omnibus on Thursdays with additional scenes of an adult nature and ITV announced that this late-night omnibus would be the soaps new home as they tried to market it as an adult soap. The move may have worked if it had been properly advertised and if the late-night slot didn’t get later and later in the night and often didn’t air when it was scheduled too. The soap served out the remainder of its run in this slot before ITV also dropped the axe – having confidentially killed the soap off.

Sweet Medicine [2003]

When ITV axed Peak Practice in 2002 it announced a follow-up of sorts in the form of Sweet Medicine, a medical drama set in the Peak District – so Peak Practice in all but name. Sweet Medicine launched in 2003 and starred Patrick Hodge and Jason Merrells. The drama initially faced tough competition from BBC One’s critically acclaimed Canterbury Tales adaptations and only managed 4.4 million viewers for its opening episode. But ratings for the series quickly picked up and by its fifth episode 5.6 million viewers were watching but this wasn’t enough for Nigel Pickard – who swung his axe often at ITV – and the drama was shunted from peak-time Thursdays to grave-yard Sundays, 11.20. Needless to say Mr. Pickard successful killed off the drama with the move.

Family [2003]

Also launched in 2003 and starring Martin Kemp who ITV had managed to tempt over from EastEnders in a golden-handcuffs deal. Family was a drama about an east-end gangster and was well received by critics and advertisers. However, while the drama started off well with 6.1 million viewers it soon dropped to 4.3 million viewers. With two episodes left to air Mr. Pickard, yes him again, shunted the show into a late-night slot and once again the drama was successfully killed off.

Fortysomething [2003]

Drama series for ITV starring, and directed by, Hugh Laurie who played Doctor Paul Slippery who faces a midlife crisis. The series also starred Anna Chancellor and guest-starred Stephen Fry. The series was written by Nigel Williams based on his 1999 novel of the same name. The series started off well with over six million viewers but once again ratings soon dropped to just over four million. Mid way through the run ITV decided to shunt the series to….a late-night slot. The drama moved from 9pm on Sunday to 11pm on Saturday and this effectively killed off the series. Interestingly Hugh Laurie is now in American drama House where he plays a Doctor and the series is a huge hit.