Bloody BBC!

[shapinglight]

You know, normally I'm a big defender of the BBC, but that doesn't mean I think they're perfect.

Case in point: the bastards cancelled Ripper Street.

I only found out about this last night - it was a complete shock to me - and I'm so upset and angry. This is a great deal to do with the fact that apparently the cancellation came out of the blue to the makers of the show, so they won't have taken it into account in their story, and the way things were left at the end of the penultimate episode of season 2, I'm pretty sure it's going to end on an awful downer - one they might well not have chosen if they'd known about the cancellation earlier.

This is the second time the BBC have done this to me. The Hour, too, was cancelled leaving the story at a very low place (one the writer, Abi Morgan, has since said she never meant to be the end of the story), and the fact that Abi Morgan won an award for the show afterwards is very cold comfort. Just as is knowing that this petition asking the BBC to change their minds (there's a twitter account too @SaveRipperSt), which has already been signed by nearly 14,000 people won't make a blind bit of difference.

If you love the show, please sign it anyway. It may not help, but it certainly can't hurt.

Here's the link again.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/reverse-the-bbc-s-decision-to-cancel-ripper-street?share_id=EbNDXPkSWf&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

Going away to have a good cry now. Bastards!

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Oh no! Were the ratings that bad? (And why does BBC care about ratings anyway?)

[shapinglight]

The ratings were down on season 1,but they would be, wouldn't they, given that the BBC moved it from Sunday to Monday, where it was up against a well established reality show on another channel.

I feel like they did it on purpose because they wanted to axe the show anyway. :(

[ex_peasant441]

Bother. I've made some scathing comments about the show in my time but it was still one of the few things worth watching at the moment.

I learnt the bitter lesson of surprise cancellations young, when they did the first two books of the Tripods series but not the third, leaving things on a terrible cliffhanger. At least in that case I could read the books to find out what happened.

[shapinglight]

Someone actually mentioned that cancellation in some of the comments I've read.

I could cope with the show ending. I could have coped with The Hour ending. But only if both shows were allowed to end where they were meant to end.

Can't believe they cancelled Ripper Street and have renewed crap like Atlantis.

The reason, apparently, is that viewing figures were slightly down, and it didn't compete well with ITV's I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, but that's just ridiculous reasoning. Of course it couldn't compete with that, so why put it up against it? Also, there can hardly be any crossover audience between the two shows at all.

[ex_peasant441]

They renewed Atlantis? *boggles* Even I gave that up after one episode, and I set the bar very low for that sort of thing.

Ripper Street would have done better on a different night. Monday is not a normal place for costume drama.


There is that thing about the Great Train Robbery starting next week. That might be worth watching. Otherwise I am reduced to considering Channel 4's night of psycopaths - which tells you something about the state of tv at the mo.

[shapinglight]

I'm not interested in that either, so that's it. Nothing left to watch.

[ex_peasant441]

Time to catch up on the DVDs.

[dalmeny]

I did enjoy The Tripods but I'd already read the books before the TV was produced, so the cancellation was not as traumatic for me as it might have been.

[ex_peasant441]

I can't remember much about the actual show or the books, just the annoyance when they cancelled it.

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

I found out about this cancellation last week, and was so upset. Chris and I had said all along that Monday wasn't the right night for it, but using comparative viewing figures of I'm A Celebrity as an excuse isn't a reason to cancel to such a good programme.

I shall sign the petition anyway. *sigh*

[shapinglight]

Chris and I had said all along that Monday wasn't the right night for it, but using comparative viewing figures of I'm A Celebrity as an excuse isn't a reason to cancel to such a good programme.

I agree. Why couldn't they have kept it on Sunday, like season 1? And if they really want to compete with the idiocy of IACGMOOH, why didn't they put it against Masterchef?

I'm so upset. I know the series is going to end badly for Reid and the others, with Shine getting away with everything. Classic cliffhanger stuff that I'm sure the makers would never have gone for if they'd known they weren't coming back.

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

As soon as I saw they'd cancelled it I thought of you! It's ridiculous that they don't let the makers finish the stories isn't it!!

They used to - I remember quite distinctly that they used to give a series a 'proper' chance to establish itself and then if they did cancel it they would let them have an 'end'. Grrrr!!!

Oh - by the way - thank you so much for the Christmas card which arrived safely!!

[shapinglight]

It's ridiculous that they don't let the makers finish the stories isn't it!!

I agree. Peter Capaldi did say at one point that he thought there might be a one-off special to finish The Hour properly, but I'm pretty sure that was wishful thinking.

This is going to end at a bad place. I know it.