The BBC has announced that they have axed the popular soap ‘Doctors’, after 23 years on air.
The lunchtime soap was reportedly cancelled due to the show’s declining ratings and rising costs.
According to The Sun, the cast and crew were brought in for a meeting where bosses broke the news.
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The BBC One show first aired in 2000 and has since occupied the lunchtime slot up until February 2022 when BBC bosses promoted the show to the 7pm primetime slot on BBC Two.
This promotion came after the axing of Holby City.
Unfortunately, since ratings dramatically dropped, the show was quietly returned to its original lunchtime slot.
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In a statement on Instagram, BBC Birmingham said: “After an incredible 23 years, BBC Doctors is to come to an end.”
“The trail-blazing show has done so much for TV in the West Midlands, and we will reinvest all of the funding for Doctors into new programming in the region.”
Showrunner Kate Oates has promised fans that they will get “the finale the show deserves.”
She confirmed that the last few episodes will be the last to be filmed as the show is no longer within the broadcaster’s daytime budget.
Filming will continue through to March 2024 and the last episode of the show will air in December.
A TV insider told The Sun: “Doctors has ticked along fairly quietly around the 1.3million viewers mark for years now without any word of cancellation, but the news will still come as a shock.”
“A full cast and crew meeting was held today where the news was shared and then a lunch was laid on in the Drama Village cafe.”
“Some of the cast and crew have been there since the soap first began and it really felt like a job for life, plus the soap is such a central pillar for the entire community – it employs so many contractors and freelance and is known to be a real rung on the ladders for British acting talent.”
“While the impact on viewers might not seem huge, in terms of the industry this is seismic.”
