16 June 2023 , 17:10
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Wrestling comedy Deep Heat will not be back for second series even though it has been written, its creators have revealed.
A string of popular shows axed for good this week as budget issues continue to strangle broadcasters.
Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez spoke about the ill-fated ITV2 sitcom in their upcoming Edinburgh Fringe show Life, Choices.
The show followed the life of Holly, a frustrated wannabe wrestler and featured guest appearances from Little Britain's Matt Lucas and John Thompson.
It won't be back after its six-episode debut series last year - but a second series has been written.
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ITV have made a tough decision in a bleak period for comedy (PA)Max jokes that Deep Heat hasn't been cancelled, rather it's "one season arc reached its conclusion".
Olesker told BCG: "We were phenomenally lucky to have the opportunity to create a sitcom for ITV and even luckier for them to continue to have faith in it as Covid collapsed the entire thing and budgets were annihilated left, right and centre, staff changed and so on.
"It was a white knuckle process to get it over the line in the first place.
More episodes have been written and "if any channel controllers are reading this and want to pick up the phone, we're open to chatting" he went on to say.
It comes as Channel 4 today axed another comedy show as the broadcaster undertakes a desperate effort to deal with rising costs.
The Big Narstie Show, which first aired in 2018 and is presented by rapper Big Narstie and comedian Mo Gilligan, is the latest programme on the chopping block.
It will not be returning for a sixth series as a spokesperson for the channel insisted that it was not axed due to ongoing cost-saving measures, but was cancelled as part of a “natural evolution” of its busy schedule.
“The decision not to recommission a sixth series of The Big Narstie Show is not part of our response to challenges in the advertising market,” they added, according to Deadline.
“We are immensely proud of the five series we have made of this innovative BAFTA-winning show but we have to look carefully at what we commission each year to make sure we continue to innovate and offer viewers a varied range of programming.
“We look forward to working with Dice, Expectation and Big Narstie on other projects in the future,” they concluded.
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Earlier this year, it was revealed Channel 4 was taking extreme measures in an effort to cut costs as the channel’s advertising revenue drastically reduced, and ratings plummeted.