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Shows abandoned before broadcast

Things that were filmed, but never made it to air. (August 2012)

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BR
Brekkie
In the early 2000s or thereabouts, ITV made a Survivor -style reality gameshow called called Press Ganged set on a tall ship. It seemed like a fairly big-budget affair, and I think it made the news either during or shortly after the filming because the ship involved sank, or became grouded, or something noteworthy. But for some reason, the show was postponed from whichever season's line-up it was supposed to be in, and I think it ended up never being broadcast. Anybody happen to know why, or whether it's ended up being broadcast on ITV47+6 or something?

I know Ireland had a "Big Brother on a boat" where the boat "sank", so maybe stories getting mixed up in history there. I vaguely recall Press Ganged being announced though didn't realise it had been made.

I guess there are a few individual shows over the years not screened due to either participants dying or legal issues surrounding certain contestants - I know an episode of Deal or No Deal got canned for that reason (don't think it was a contestant, but one of their family who featured in the show), so whether DOND officially count that in their episode count I'm not sure. I'm sure there was a short documentary series or reality show which was canned too due to the questionable activities of a contestant that came to light after - but am not sure what it was.
GO
gottago
The Devil Wears Primark was a Channel 4 documentary that mysteriously got pulled from the schedules a few years ago just hours before it was due to air and hasn't been seen since. I seem to remember 'editorial reasons' being the alleged reason why though I can imagine a lawsuit may have influenced their decision.
PT
Put The Telly On
I used to be a fan of Little Britain and I remember reading about 'Home' - a sitcom, starring Ronnie Corbett and David Walliams originally thought up in 2005 about a care home but it was never filmed...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v300/nok32uk/homeshow.jpg
(a mock-up promotion somebody, not me!, made at the time of announcement)

Quote:
Little Britain star David Walliams has been working with Rob Brydon on this sitcom script. The plan is for Walliams and Brydon to play two constantly bickering brothers who run a care home. Ronnie Corbett will also star as a playboy OAP - the only male resident in the home which is otherwise populated by female pensioners.

This pilot has been on our list since 2008 - the task of finishing writing it keeps getting postponed due to Walliams and Brydon's very hectic schedules. The project is not technically dead - although, if work on it does resume, it is likely to be quite some time in the future as Brydon is busy working with his new production company and Walliams is looking to crack America with Matt Lucas.


http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/pilots/home/
:-(
A former member
Although it is a slightly different situation, Britain's Got Talent was originally pulled before going back on air a couple of years later. A clip of the pilot was shown on some programme a while back, with Fern Britton as the female judge and it was terrible, looked like something from the mid 80s. It instantly became a huge show, so it does make you wonder what other potential huge shows the TV market has missed out on.


Wasn't it a non-broadcast pilot? In which case it's no surprise it didn't look amazing. Plus this was 2005-ish, before X Factor really started pushing the whole uber-glossy look of these type of shows. (I think the clips you saw were on The Talent Show Story, a great series from Shiver that's being repeated at the moment)

Isn't there a second series of Shane (Frank Skinner's sitcom) in the can, that never got broadcast?


The main reason is got pulled was the host Paul O'grady jumped ship to Ch4.

There is also STV drama made in 2006 which has never been seen in England, but was broadcast in Scotland in 2009 instead of sharp.
TI
tightrope78
Were the remaining episodes of the Antique Inspectors ever broadcast after Jill Dando's death?
MI
Michael
Were the remaining episodes of the Antique Inspectors ever broadcast after Jill Dando's death?


IIRC, it was continued unabated.
CA
Cando
Although it is a slightly different situation, Britain's Got Talent was originally pulled before going back on air a couple of years later. A clip of the pilot was shown on some programme a while back, with Fern Britton as the female judge and it was terrible, looked like something from the mid 80s. It instantly became a huge show, so it does make you wonder what other potential huge shows the TV market has missed out on.


Wasn't it a non-broadcast pilot? In which case it's no surprise it didn't look amazing. Plus this was 2005-ish, before X Factor really started pushing the whole uber-glossy look of these type of shows. (I think the clips you saw were on The Talent Show Story, a great series from Shiver that's being repeated at the moment)

Isn't there a second series of Shane (Frank Skinner's sitcom) in the can, that never got broadcast?


The main reason is got pulled was the host Paul O'grady jumped ship to Ch4.
.


Paul O Grady only ever filmed a non broadcast pilot. IIRC it was called ''Paul O' Grady's Got Talent''. A full series was about to go into to production when he jumped to C4.
RO
robertclark125
There was an episode of the professionals, that featured a large amount of racism. This particular episode was shown in other countries, including South Africa, but has never, ever been shown in this country.
NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
In the early 2000s or thereabouts, ITV made a Survivor -style reality gameshow called called Press Ganged set on a tall ship. It seemed like a fairly big-budget affair, and I think it made the news either during or shortly after the filming because the ship involved sank, or became grouded, or something noteworthy. But for some reason, the show was postponed from whichever season's line-up it was supposed to be in, and I think it ended up never being broadcast. Anybody happen to know why, or whether it's ended up being broadcast on ITV47+6 or something?


Filmed in 2004 and according to previous TV Forum posts:

http://www.tvforum.co.uk/tvhome/pressganged-19220/ posted:
Scheduled for September 2004. Pulled before broadcast.

Re-scheduled for January 2005. Pulled before broadcast.

Re-re-scheduled for April 2005. Pulled before broadcast.

Re-re-re-scheduled for July 2005. Pulled before broadcast.


And was still promoted as "Coming Soon" in January 2006.

Elsewhere, a big list of (mostly American) programmes is on the Wiki, but lists Man vs Beast, made by ITV in 2003 based on the American show of the same name, made and then never broadcast due to animal welfare complaints.
LL
Larry the Loafer
Cando posted:
Paul O Grady only ever filmed a non broadcast pilot. IIRC it was called ''Paul O' Grady's Got Talent''. A full series was about to go into to production when he jumped to C4.


A snippet was shown on The Talent Show Story and frankly, it looked a lot better than BGT.
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
I watched a pilot being taped at BBC Scotland quite a few years ago. It was called "Doss" and was set in a flop-house for homeless men. It was pretty funny. The most recognisable actor was Miryam Margoles.
SW
Steve Williams
As for shows abandonded before broadcast, it was reported a few years ago that ITV commissioned bucketloads of programmes, mostly dramas and other expensive stuff, then found out it couldn't afford to broadcast them. Think it was a Guardian/Media monkey article.


Yeah, there was an accounting quirk whereby ITV didn't have to pay for a show until they showed it on the telly so it was sometimes cheaper to film it and whack it on a shelf then actually broadcast it on telly. The first series of The Last Detective was one of those affected, it was finally broadcast two years after they made it. Shane series two I'm pretty sure was never shown, though as Matthew Kelly, who was in it, told Frank, "At least we got paid".

There was a light entertainment show about ten years ago on ITV called Surprise Wedding which was filmed with John Leslie as presenter, but then his unpleasantness happened so they scrapped it and did the whole thing again with Mark Durden-Smith as presenter. There was also the 1982 Christmas It's A Knockout, filmed in Portugal, which did get filmed but was a right mess and the Beeb considered it completely unbroadcastable so didn't show it.

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