ITV axes 'Afterlife' after two series

Monday, June 18 2007, 16:46 BST

By Tony Delgado

Supernatural drama Afterlife has been axed by ITV1, scuppering hopes of a third season.

Afterlife had developed a loyal following over its two seasons, but recent programmes such as Britain’s Got Talent have been a far greater draw for viewers. A spokeswoman for ITV paid tribute to the axed show: "Afterlife did a fantastic job for us bringing a very different type of audience to Saturday nights.”

Murray Ferguson of Clerkenwell Films, who made the series, told Broadcast: "The BBC schedule is putting a lot of pressure on ITV to follow suit on Saturday nights and it certainly looks like light entertainment will form a key part of ITV's strategy for that slot."

Ferguson added: "I think the end of the second series was quite a neat ending but it was by no means seen as a conclusion of the series."

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Your Views

miss l lydon on June 18th, 2007
not very happy with this story about the afterlife being axed we enjoyed this programme.at the moment the tv on saturday evening is rubbish theres too many talent shows eg dancing,singing,ice skating ect with good judge, bad judge senarios, anything to make money from phone votes thats all.

KG Plymouth on June 18th, 2007
Please no more talent show rubbish

Claire Dean, Manchester on June 18th, 2007
I completely agree with Miss Lydon - it is such a transparent strategy from ITV to make a mint from phone lines. It's bad enough having to watch adverts, without the TV show itself wanting something from you. In this age of digital TV and ever increasing channel numbers, a broadcaster should try and stand out from the crowd and show something truly innovative and original. It is just a shame that ITV arent going to strive for this themselves.

James Holt - Belfast on June 18th, 2007
Its a shame this 'original' show has been axed, I was moved by the final episode of the second series - there was nothing else like it on ITV or TV for that matter!

A Fullwood, Birmingham on June 18th, 2007
Afterlife was a great series and what a shame that ITV have decided to axe yet another excellent drama that still had a lot of potential. With great shows such as Bad Girls and Footballers Wives also gone, what regular drama series' are actually left on ITV except 'Heartbeat'?

Pete Wirral on June 18th, 2007
So ITV say they are trying to "follow suit on Saturday nights" by axing dramas form it line up. Hmmm, Saturday nights on the BBC are nearly all drama, Dr Who, Casualty and now Jekyll.. seems the idea its a copout to make more money from talent shows and phone lines isnt far off the mark.

Mark, Birmingham on June 19th, 2007
It is a great shame it's not going to be on. You would have thought there would be room for this great series even with all the phone in money making shows. At least the BBC have got Jekyll which is great. And I thought ITV said they were committed to drama. Committed to phone in dross more like!

helen, northampton on June 19th, 2007
Not surprisingly i completely agree its such a shame good dramas are losing out to reality type shows and cheap entertainment, i'll be turning off.

suzie w on June 19th, 2007
I really got into afterlife after missing the first season and was looking forward to how they would develop the next season. I'm fed up of talent and reality shows and don't watch ITV much at all at the moment because of it - surely there's room for both in an evening??!!! ITV's is just coming across as a low quality version of BBC at the moment with all the great programmes they've had recently and this doesn't help persuade me otherwise

Paul on June 19th, 2007
This was one of ITV's better dramas, to fit into their growing quality archive. I am bitterly disappointed and thought it was a unique and decent asset to the channel on a Saturday night.

Nicholas, Atherton, Gtr Man on July 4th, 2007
Britain's Got Talent was a good programme, because it was different, it had variety, and it was funny. It made a heck of a change from X-Factor, Pop Idol etc. There's too many of these singing and dancing programmes, as well as reality TV (I'm a Celebrity etc) - it seems when they are on, they dominate half the schedules. Afterlife was different, it was enjoyable.