Robert Lindsay blasts My Family axe

Robert Lindsay has blasted the BBC’s decision to axe his long-running comedy My Family.

Lindsay plays dentist Ben Harper in the BBC One comedy alongside Zoe Wanamaker, Daniela Denby-Ashe and Gabriel Thomson. The comedy has run for 10 series and a 11th and final season is due to air on the beeb soon.

Earlier this year it was revealed the corporation had decided to chop My Family after its ratings dropped below 5 million viewers. The swing of the axe proved to be an unpopular decision with some viewers and has, seemingly, also angered Lindsay who blames its demise on the corporation’s poor treatment of the series.

“The BBC has treated it appallingly. The ratings were great but they ruined it by putting it out after the 9pm watershed. It’s a genuinely good family show – as my dad used to say, ‘You can watch it quite safely with your grandchildren’.” – Robert Lindsay in an interview with TV Times.

At the time the decision to axe the comedy was also linked to Danny Cohen – the new BBC One controller – with reported comments that the BBC’s comedy output was too “middle class”. My Family originally launched in 2000 and, not counting the final series, has so far clocked up over 111 episodes.