This time it is River City, the BBC’s long-running Scottish soap, set to come to an end this autumn after more than two decades on screen. Its exit follows a growing list of casualties: Doctors has already been shown the door, The Fortune Hotel has been dropped by ITV, and several ambitious Channel 4 dramas have vanished almost as soon as they arrived.
Advertisement
What once felt like the occasional cancellation now looks far more serious. British television is not simply trimming around the edges — it is cutting deep, and fast.
The latest decisions make that painfully clear. Disney+ has opted not to continue Extraordinary, despite its wit, originality and distinctively British voice. ITV has also abandoned Passenger, a drama that at least attempted to do something unusual by mixing small-town crime with eerie, otherworldly tension. Meanwhile, established titles are hardly safe either: Vera is nearing its final chapter, Big Boys has come to an end, and even Dancing on Ice appears to be on shaky ground.
Taken together, it paints a bleak picture. Across broadcasters and streamers alike, the appetite for patience is collapsing.
The explanations, of course, are familiar enough by now. Executives talk about “changing viewing habits”, “financial pressures” and “strategic priorities”. Translated into plain English, the message is simple: budgets are tighter, audiences are more fragmented, and commissioners increasingly want shows that either deliver instantly or travel well overseas.
That may be commercially understandable. Creatively, however, it is becoming disastrous.
Because the real frustration is this: British television has not run out of talent. Quite the opposite. In recent years it has produced some of its finest work, from Baby Reindeer and Slow Horses to The Responder and The Sixth Commandment. These are not minor successes. They are the sort of programmes that prove Britain can still make television that feels distinctive, unsettling, ambitious and world-class.
