ITV axe Wild at Heart

ITV has axed its African based drama Wild at Heart, starring Stephen Tompkinson, after seven seasons

The Mirror reports that the drama series has been axed confirming reports during the most recent run of Wild at Heart that ITV were planning on cancelling it. At the time ITV denied any decision had been taken over the future of the series. The seventh season of Wild at Heart saw a slump in ratings as BBC One’s Call the Midwife proved to be fatal competition for the series.
However, The Mirror reports that the cast and crew of the drama are putting the blame for its demise on Julian Fellowes’ four-part drama Titanic. The multi-million pound drama may have been sold to many countries around the world but it failed to attract spectacular ratings for ITV1 with the final episode sinking to just 3.5 million viewers. That figure means the ABC broadcast of Titanic in America had more viewers as over 4 million viewers tuned in – still not a brilliant figure in itself.

‘The feeling is that they sunk so much money into Titanic that they are having to make savings elsewhere and we are bearing the brunt of that.  We’re all gutted that it has come to this. There are shows that would kill for 7.5million viewers.’ A ‘source’ quoted by The Mirror
While ITV has cancelled Wild at Heart it has ordered a two-hour special, to air next year, to wrap up the storylines and loose ends.