ITV axes popular drama after fourth series saying show has ‘run its course’
MUCH-LOVED Sunday night drama The Good Karma Hospital has been axed.
I can reveal ITV chiefs believe the show has “run its course” after the fourth series earlier this year saw stars Amanda Redman and Neil Morrissey, who play Dr Lydia Fonseca and bar owner Greg McConnell, finally tie the knot.
However, the show’s brutal culling will come as a shock to fans, especially after creator Dan Sefton said in March that a fifth season “will be made”.
A TV insider said: “The show ended with a storyline which delighted viewers — marriage between two people who clearly loved each other very much.
“Plus, audience figures had been slipping of late, almost three million down from the show’s debut series, which isn’t a great sign.
“It felt like the right time to end the story.”
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‘Slow evolution’
The medical drama featured 24 episodes over the four series.
Set in a hospital in southern India, it peaked at eight million viewers and fans were ecstatic when long-term partners Dr Fonseca and Greg married.
Show creator Dan had hinted a fifth season could involve mixing up the cast and introducing new characters to keep things fresh.
He said: “I think that’s the trick with TV, it has to be a slow evolution, new characters come, favourite characters move on.
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“And if the show is strong, if the tone of the show is strong, everybody knows what it is, then it can grow with that and get better and better.
“And I think this is the case with this show, that it has potential to just to keep going, and to continue to be entertaining, because that’s the ultimate goal, really."
However, ITV clearly decided Karma couldn’t carry on.
A channel spokesman said: “There are no current plans for any more series.” Well, it had a good run.
TCHEKY’S SPIT PART
FRENCH actor Tcheky Karyo won’t be eating in Greggs.
The Baptiste star was on the set of new BBC drama Boat Story when he was given a pastry from a fast-food van – and spat it out after one bite.
He’s starring alongside ex-EastEnders Craig Fairbrass in the series, being filmed in the seaside town of Redcar, North Yorks.
The storyline follows the discovery of cocaine in a washed-up fishing boat.
Thankfully for Tcheky there’s no trace of sausage rolls in the stash.
CRUEL TWIST FOR NETFLIX’S TOO HOT
NETFLIX dating show Too Hot To Handle is returning for a new series.
Ten singletons will head to the Caribbean to find love, however in a surprise twist, the contestants think they’re filming a fictional dating series called Wild Love hosted by ex-Saved By The Bell star Mario Lopez.
The cheeky ploy is designed to attract a new batch of contestants, who are soon told about the real show they’ll be appearing on – and the usual rules, that they have to refrain from sexually intimacy to boost funds in the prize pot.
The show is available to stream from December 7.
CREDIT TO SPIES ’N’ PORN
DO you use a credit or debit card? They owe their development to pornography and spies.
New BBC2 documentary series The Secret Genius Of Modern Life kicks off tomorrow with a look at how that little piece of plastic is packed with innovations born out of the most unlikely circumstances.
Professor Hannah Fry explains how the contactless chip in your card is actually attached to a very long, thin antenna hidden inside.
And that device – which only sparks to life if electromagnetic waves are directed at it – was once used by the Soviets to spy on the Americans at the US Embassy in Moscow.
On the other hand, the magnetic strip on the back of your card was devised by the CIA to ensure they had a foolproof way of identifying their staff.
And those three special numbers you need to read out when you buy something came about because of people paying for porn.
When their partners spotted the purchases on their bills, people would often plead their innocence and get a refund claiming their details must have been nabbed from somewhere in the electronic ether.
Those three digits, however, are only on the physical card and are used to prove which person really made the transaction.
JOOLS’S BIG GIG FOR 30TH
EXPECT big things when Jools Holland celebrates his BBC show Later . . . turning 30.
The veteran musician will be joined by a host of music stars for the one-off special, Jools’s 30th Birthday Bash, on BBC2 this Saturday at 9pm.
It will feature a concert at the Hammersmith Apollo, starring Robert Plant, Michael Kiwanuka, Imelda May, Seasick Steve, plus many more.
Seasick Steve recalls how being on Later . . . boosted his career: “I’d never heard of Jools Holland so I had no understanding of what was going to happen.
“They just kind of pushed me out on the floor. I played some boogie, and my life changed overnight.
“It was just so strange. My next-door neighbour didn’t even know who I was, to all of a sudden, millions of people knowing about me.”
SHERI HAS A LOT OF BOTTLE
SHERIDAN SMITH reveals she downed an entire bottle of fake wine in one go while filming new Sky sitcom Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything.
She says: “The scene started and I think the production team thought I was going to say, ‘Cut, I can’t drink all that’. Anyway, I didn’t.
"They all had to wait for ages as I decked this whole bottle of pretend wine in one take.
“When I finished, I had to deliver the line, ‘I’m good, thanks!’ all bloated like a balloon.
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“I could hardly breathe after downing it all. Afterwards, the whole crew gave me this big round of applause but I felt so sick. I didn’t even eat my lunch.”
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The show starts on December 7 and is definitely one to watch.
'Omnipresent'
BRIAN COX had a cameo in Channel 4’s Miriam & Alan: Lost In Scotland And Beyond last night.
The Scottish actor met them at a Dundee theatre where he and Alan Cumming first trod the boards. Brian’s also known Miriam Margoyles for years, joking: “She’s been omnipresent in my life.”