Kingdom falls to Axe

Stephen Fry drama Kingdom as been axed by ITV as the broadcaster continues its attempts to cut costs.

 

Actor Stephen Fry has revealed his Norfolk based drama Kingdom has not been renewed by ITV. The actor and writer revealed the drama’s axe on his blog. Kingdom had run for three seasons on ITV1 and was a ratings winner for the channel despite the series being one of many ITV’s dramas to be dropped by STV’s schedules in Scotland. However, the future of Kingdom did seem uncertain when Fry revealed that if it was re-commissioned filming probably wouldn’t take place until 2011 due to budget issues at ITV.

“Kingdom has performed well for us over the last three years but we will not be developing any further episodes. As has always been the case, we are constantly looking at ways to refresh the mix of drama on ITV1 to ensure that we get the balance right between both old and new titles.” – ITV spokesperson quoted on Media Guardian.

 

Kingdom’s axe due to budget issues comes just after it was announced that Primeval is to be revived after being axed by ITV earlier in the year due to budget issues. The Saturday evening drama had rated well for ITV but the broadcaster dropped it due to its big production budget but a deal between BBC America and the UKTV Network has secured the future of the series. However, while ITV have said they are open to such deals to save other drama’s its seems unlikely Kingdom will be revived ala Primeval.