Peaky Blinders creator's latest BBC drama gets disappointing update about its future
This Town couldn't strike a chord quite like the writer's other notable works.
Steven Knight's recent drama series This Town has reportedly been axed by the BBC after just one season, with disappointing ratings said to be the reasoning behind the decision.
The Birmingham-set drama follows a band brought together amid sociopolitical turmoil in the 1980s, featuring a mix of new talent and established names such as Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery and The Last Kingdom's David Dawson.
A BBC spokesperson said: "We're hugely grateful to Steven Knight, Kudos and the cast and crew for bringing This Town to life – in no small part due to Steven's passion for the West Midlands.
"We look forward to working with him on new projects in the future and we’re in talks about what's next."
According to The Sun, Knight's ever-growing dance card, which includes Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man and the James Bond reboot as well as a documentary on the Oasis reunion tour, was not a factor in the decision.
Rather, the tabloid cites underwhelming viewership as the main issue, with Broadcast reporting only 2.1 million overnight viewers for the season premiere; a figure almost halved by episode 2.
RadioTimes.com's Drama Writer James Hibbs offered a mixed review, describing This Town as such a "mish-mash of ideas" that "it isn't really possible to lay out the plot... in any way that is succinct".
He wrote: "On one level, you'd think it's about the creation of the band, but then you realise it's actually about the politically febrile nature of the Midlands during that time.
"Then, you realise it's neither of those, and is in fact about the family drama. Then a scene will come along which makes you think it was about the music all along, and round and round it goes."
The critic concluded that even a writer of Knight's prowess struggles "to form the multiple concepts and characters into a cohesive whole", but did note that it could grow into something "phenomenal" in a corrective second season.
Alas, it appears that won't be coming to fruition.
The cast of This Town also featured Levi Brown (Payback), Jordan Bolger (The Book of Boba Fett), Ben Rose (Line of Duty), Eve Austin (You) and Freya Parks (Here We Go).
This Town is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
