BBC axes hit sitcom Motherland
The BBC has axed its BAFTA-winning comedy Motherland.The show, which ran for three series, followed the lives of a group of parents whose children went to the same school.
Diane Morgan, who played single mother Liz in the show, said BBC bosses had dropped the show.
She told the Times: “I hate to say it because I still get women running up to me with prams in the street asking me when it’s coming back.”
The show won the BAFTA for Best Scripted Comedy in 2022 and Morgan hinted that it might get a spin-off featuring Lucy Punch's character the bossy business owner Amanda.She told the magazine: “It'll live on through her. The ladies with theprams will be pleased, hopefully.”
It comes as the BBC said its projected deficit will increase to £492 million for the 2024/25 financial year.
In the corporation’s annual plan, it said an “exceptional increased spend” will push up the operating deficit to £468 million as the BBC covers major supporting events such as the Olympics in Paris and Euro 2024 in Germany.
The annual plan also confirmed the return of dramas Silent Witness, Call The Midwife, Death In Paradise, Shetland and Beyond Paradise, the documentary Field Of Dreams – presented by Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff – as well as shows such as Gladiators, Claudia Winkleman-fronted The Traitors and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
Former England cricket captain Flintoff was hurt while filming Top Gear at its test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome last December and received a financial settlement from the BBC.
Top Gear was rested for the “foreseeable future” by the corporation last year.
Flintoff will take cricketing talent from his home county of Lancashire on tour for the second Field Of Dreams series.
Comedies such as Am I Being Unreasonable?, starring Daisy May Cooper and Bafta winner Lenny Rush, is back for a second series.
Stephen Merchant’s The Outlaws, Romesh Ranganathan’s Avoidance, and Black Ops will also be back.
Martin Freeman will be back in the crime drama The Responder, and soaps Waterloo Road and Casualty will also return.