Axe falls on The Royal & Heartbeat

ITV has axed 60’s Police drama series Heartbeat and its medical spin-off series The Royal due to falling ratings, according to a tabloid report.

The Daily Mail reports that ITV has decided to axe struggling drama’s Heartbeat and The Royal. Both drama’s, set in the 1960s, were firm Sunday night favorites with viewers but over the past year ratings for both show have halved, dropping to around four million viewers.

“‘Staff have been kept holding on another series of Heartbeat, but there has been nothing. People on the show have been told at the moment that there is no recommission,” A “source” told The Daily Mail.

Traditionally both shows’ aired in the 8pm slot on Sunday nights but were moved to earlier in the evening last year following ITV’s decision to drop episodes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale from the schedules, on Sunday nights, in favour of entertainment shows. Heartbeat and The Royal were therefore moved to the 7pm slot to make way for such shows but this saw a drop in ratings from which both shows have not recovered.

“Heartbeat has been there for years. This is a big deal. I would have to say even if ITV was not in trouble, you would have to admit this is a series that is at the tail-end of its career. ‘It’s like all the things that Yorkshire TV has been founded on, they are all coming to a close.” – Another insider talking to The Daily Mail.

Heartbeat launched in 1992 and starred former EastEnders actor Nick Berry who played PC Nick Rowan in the series until 1998 where he was placed by a succession of actors such as Jason Durr, Jonathan Kerrigan and James Carlton. The series had clocked up 18 seasons and at its peak pulled in over ten million viewers but is often knocked by critics for its refusal to leave the 1960s and enter the 1970s. The Royal launched in 2003 as a spin-off from Heartbeat and the first season starred Heartbeat regular Bill Maynard as Greengrass alongside Wendy Craig, Dennis Lill, Linda Armstrong and Paul Fox. So far the series has clocked up seven seasons and also enjoyed strong ratings, usually around 7 to 8 million, but these have since dropped to four million. In 2008 ITV launched a daytime spin-off series called The Royal Today, set in the modern day, which was not a success and hasn’t been re-commissioned.