The BBC has swung the axe yet again on its programming – with The Power of Parker becoming the latest show to be cancelled.
The BBC sitcom, which starred Conleth Hill as a Stockport businessman in the Nineties, aired for two series – picking up an RTS North West Award in 2024 for Best Comedy.
However, despite airing just last year and ending on a major cliffhanger, the BBC has confirmed that there are no plans to bring it back for a third series.
A BBC spokesperson told The Independent: “There are no plans for a third series of The Power Of Parker. We’d like to thank Paul Coleman, Sian Gibson and the team at Boffola Pictures for bringing the show to our screens.”
Meanwhile, a source told The Sun that while two million tuned into the show, “the ratings just didn’t deliver enough bang for buck and it was decided the series would be chopped to make way for new formats”.
The Independent has contacted Sian Gibson for comment.
The comedy, which was written by Paul Coleman and star Sian Gibson, follows businessman Martin (Hill) as he attempts to keep his electronics shop afloat while keeping his mistress Kath (Gibson) a secret from long-suffering wife Diane (Rosie Cavaliero).
The Power of Parker was well-reviewed when it first aired in 2023, with The Independent’s Sean O’Grady giving it four stars. “The Power of Parker has some pleasingly sharp dialogue and the odd well-executed sight gag, but it’s more of a simmering sort of suspenseful drama than a comedy boiling over with laughs, and all the better for it – an engaging sort of romp (double entendre intended),” he wrote at the time.
Fans will be undoubtedly disappointed by its cancellation – particularly as series two ended on a major cliffhanger. The final episode saw Steve Pemberton’s character Sandy Cooper, the major shareholder in Martin’s shop, return from the dead – with Kath, Diane and Martin having believed after hitting his head on a trouser press.
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The Power of Parker isn’t the only BBC show to be cancelled this month, with nature series Winterwatch being axed after 14 years.
Last month, BBC director-general Matt Brittin announced that it planned to cut content spending by £80m by reviewing “broadcast TV channels and radio network portfolio”. His news was followed by the BBC’s radio output being cutback, with the number of presenters on Radio 4’s Today programme being reduced and six shows on the channel being discontinued.
However, the BBC has recently added two new comedies to its roster, with Diane Morgan’s Ann Droid debuting this month on BBC One, while The Reluctant Vampire starring Lenny Rush is due to air later this year.
