BBC denies plans to axe River City

River CityEXCLUSIVE: The BBC has denied to ATV Today it is planning to axe the Scottish soap River City as part of cut backs at the corporation.

River City EXCLUSIVE: The BBC has denied to ATV Today it is planning to axe the Scottish soap River City as part of cut backs at the corporation. An article in The Guardian (see bottom of the article) suggested the future of the BBC Scotland soap was in danger because of cut backs across the BBC. The corporation is currently seeking massive savings in light of last years licence fee freeze which, due to rising inflation, is in effect a licence fee cut. The BBC also has taken on the funding of the World Service and BBC Monitoring placing an extra burden on BBC resources.

The BBC is considering a wide range of proposals to cut costs across the corporation. These proposals include axing BBC Two’s daytime schedules and replacing them with the BBC News Channel, cutting back the BBC’s local radio output and replacing them with BBC Radio 5 Live and today it emerged cutting back sports coverage with Formula One and Wimbledon reportedly under threat. Also under consideration is cutting funding to the BBC’s regional budgets for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – which The Guardian argues places River City under threat. However, the BBC has denied that to ATV Today stating ‘There are no plans to decommission River City.’

Jacqueline Leonard The BBC Scotland soap currently airs once a week in an hour format. It previously aired as a twice weekly serial but was revamped several years ago into the one-hour format. The new format didn’t go down well with some fans though. It airs on BBC Scotland on Tuesday evenings at 8pm when the rest of the UK is watching Holby City (which airs on Wednesdays on BBC Scotland). River City airs only on BBC Scotland but is available to non-Scottish viewers via the BBC I Player service.  Amongst the cast of River City over the years are familiar names such as Gilly Gilchrist (Crossroads), Gray O’Brien (Coronation Street), Jacqueline Leonard (Doctors/EastEnders), David Paisley (Holby City), Louise Jameson (Doctor Who/EastEnders) and Australian actor Stefan Dennis better known for his role of Paul Robinson in Neighbours.