Why was Family Affairs Cancelled?

attitude99attitude99 Posts: 14,848
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Why was it cancelled? By 2005 it had won best storyline & te viewing figures were ok.
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  • starry_runestarry_rune Posts: 9,006
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    Brookside, Take the high Road, Crossroads, Night and Day and Family Affairs were all axed in the same 4 year period to make way for more reality tv and because they needed to increase commercial value of the existing soaps.
  • Sunny BSunny B Posts: 7,359
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    It's funny too think 13 years ago we had 8 UK soaps and now half off them have gone!
  • SelenaSelena Posts: 29,581
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    I don't know. I loved the show personally.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,910
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    attitude99 wrote: »
    Why was it cancelled? By 2005 it had won best storyline & te viewing figures were ok.

    It infact won two awards in the soap awards in 2005, then got axed! it was a bit odd.

    About 4 months before it was axed they had yet another revamp and brought in a load of new characters and so the final episodes focused on a load of characters we hardly even knew.

    Pete Callan had been killed off about 4 months before the end, which was a massive blow. But the Costello's had been a fantastic addition for the last 2 years of its run.

    They had far too many revamps and clear outs and a lot of good characters like Nikki Warrington were got rid of.
  • Rick_PoppaRick_Poppa Posts: 1,323
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    Yep...The Constant Re-Vamps killed it !!! shame, was really good at times too...some great characters through out it's run...
  • TheGrumpWizardTheGrumpWizard Posts: 1,547
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    That would be back in the days when the soaps got the balance right, not the 98% abject misery, depression, cancer, death, screaming, shouting and emotional breakdowns each edition has these days.
  • BadRomanceBadRomance Posts: 8,690
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    Was it anything to do with H&A being so expensive? Or maybe they were saving up for neighbours?!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 118
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    I wasn't that old when family affairs was on but would love to see episodes of it
  • CPW4EVERCPW4EVER Posts: 2,308
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    It appears to have been down to money and ratings. In it's final year it was averaging around the 1m mark per episode which sounds OK but it wasn't making it into the Top 20 most weeks. When it was axed, Five said that it was freeing up £10m a year that they were going to spend on other primetime projects. Had it been a regular in the Top 10 or 20 it would've stood a chance but spending £10m a year on something that isn't a flagship programme is quite a lot of money.

    I loved it throughout it's various incarnations though. I never understood why they killed off Pete Callan. Had David Easter decided to leave or was this a producer's attempt to shake up the show by boldly killing off the main character?
  • Janet PlankJanet Plank Posts: 10,228
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    I would like to know the answer to that. I had started to enjoy Family Affairs; then they suddenly sent the cast out on a boat and blew them up !! Next time I looked, it was a different soap, different cast, with the same name, which soon collapsed.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 515
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    attitude99 wrote: »
    Why was it cancelled? By 2005 it had won best storyline & te viewing figures were ok.

    Cos it was sh*t
  • linc52linc52 Posts: 1,779
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    i used to love family affairs
  • iGeek2014iGeek2014 Posts: 573
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    It's a shame Five decided not to re-new Family Affairs but if it was costing them a shed load of money without the viewing figures then I can understand their decision.

    It's great to see "Stanley Street" live on... The Bill used it for a while (notably for the bomb blast episodes Frontline: Shockwave), it's been used in a plethora of music videos (such as Olly Mur's Dance With Me Tonight) as well as in the current advertising campaign for the Oasis drink and also in the Foxy Bingo adverts.
  • D.DotAD.DotA Posts: 2,281
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    BadRomance wrote: »
    Was it anything to do with H&A being so expensive? Or maybe they were saving up for neighbours?!

    Neighbours was on BBC back then and no one knew they where going to axe it so they weren't saving for Neighbours.
  • Get Den WattsGet Den Watts Posts: 6,039
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    I liked it. Getting rid off all the Harts and re-tooling the show actually worked and I thought it got better from that point on.
  • attitude99attitude99 Posts: 14,848
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    iGeek2014 wrote: »
    It's a shame Five decided not to re-new Family Affairs but if it was costing them a shed load of money without the viewing figures then I can understand their decision.

    It's great to see "Stanley Street" live on... The Bill used it for a while (notably for the bomb blast episodes Frontline: Shockwave), it's been used in a plethora of music videos (such as Olly Mur's Dance With Me Tonight) as well as in the current advertising campaign for the Oasis drink and also in the Foxy Bingo adverts.

    Wow...will have to look next time on that Oasis advert! Never noticed ^_^

    One reason Family Affairs stands out was because it was (well by 2004) the only soap all of us would watch as a family & one of us would not be on the computer, even my sister got off her mobile phone to watch it!
  • UnlikelyHeroineUnlikelyHeroine Posts: 1,524
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    CPW4EVER wrote: »
    When it was axed, Five said that it was freeing up £10m a year that they were going to spend on other primetime projects. Had it been a regular in the Top 10 or 20 it would've stood a chance but spending £10m a year on something that isn't a flagship programme is quite a lot of money.

    I could be wrong but I seem to remember earlier publicity about the show noting that £10m a year for a five-times-a-week year round serial drama was actually relatively cheap (I believe it was, really), and I am not sure where Five thought it was going to get a set of better-rated programmes for that money, given its low viewership figures overall.

    Anyway, never mind the axing, I'm not over the boat explosion. :o:cry:
  • attitude99attitude99 Posts: 14,848
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    The glory moment itself: :p
    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8xLZInhCH0

    My favourite soap opening titles ever:
    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qAgqwhT7wiU
  • AndybearAndybear Posts: 11,287
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    That would be back in the days when the soaps got the balance right, not the 98% abject misery, depression, cancer, death, screaming, shouting and emotional breakdowns each edition has these days.

    I take it you don't watch Emmerdale as it's nothing like that! OK there is a cancer storyline currently running but it's not made much of as the character in question has only told one person about it.
  • iGeek2014iGeek2014 Posts: 573
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    attitude99 wrote: »
    Wow...will have to look next time on that Oasis advert! Never noticed ^_^

    One reason Family Affairs stands out was because it was (well by 2004) the only soap all of us would watch as a family & one of us would not be on the computer, even my sister got off her mobile phone to watch it!

    Here's the link: http://youtu.be/aIWIDx39JJw

    Think Ant & Dec have used the backlot at Wimbledon Studios for one of the I'm A Celeb promos, and also one of the main supermarkets in their print adverts.

    Has changed a lot since the FA days... Here's the Wimbledon Studios site for it:

    http://www.wimbledonstudios.com/film-tv-sets/street/
  • attitude99attitude99 Posts: 14,848
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    iGeek2014 wrote: »
    Here's the link: http://youtu.be/aIWIDx39JJw

    Think Ant & Dec have used the backlot at Wimbledon Studios for one of the I'm A Celeb promos, and also one of the main supermarkets in their print adverts.

    Has changed a lot since the FA days... Here's the Wimbledon Studios site for it:

    http://www.wimbledonstudios.com/film-tv-sets/street/

    Thanks ^_^

    I always felt Family Affairs got better when Stanley Street came into it, it felt more open, like Brookside when they got the Parade :D

    Also I never realised DC Emma Summerhayes of EE was in it either!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 11,348
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    Sunny B wrote: »
    It's funny too think 13 years ago we had 8 UK soaps and now half off them have gone!

    This is true, yes.

    It's funny to think how times change with one barely noticing, and the way that things move on.

    Family Affairs, Night and Day (as well as Crossroads and Brookside earlier) all disappeared from the screens at a very similar point in time, within the space of the same few years.

    At least the one good thing, if not the only good thing, that came from these soap disappearances / extinctions was that both Neighbours and Home & Away were at least picked up by Five (instead of just vanishing completely after leaving the BBC & Five respectively).
  • MelSingletonMelSingleton Posts: 1,894
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    I think it was cancelled due to lower than desired ratings, for the cost.

    5 must have wanted higher ratings: why else would they keep doing so many drastic revamps. First killing off the main core characters - the Gates and Hart families - in quick succession, but then every few years doing similar clear outs.

    Though cast changeovers can de-stabilise a soap, I thought many of the Family Affairs revamps were actually an improvement over what went on before. Refocusing things on to one street improved things a lot, and the addition of the Warrington and the Webb clans helped immensely. The later Costello family were even better, with some great storylines.

    But then they killed Pete (I'll never know why), having already done in the show's only remaining original cast member Roy in a fire. Long runners like Sadie also departed. In came a load of new characters near the end, so the final episodes seemed really pointless. The show might have been revamped countless times but the final cast seemed really divergent - it really was like a completely different show at the end.
  • iGeek2014iGeek2014 Posts: 573
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    attitude99 wrote: »
    Thanks ^_^

    I always felt Family Affairs got better when Stanley Street came into it, it felt more open, like Brookside when they got the Parade :D

    Also I never realised DC Emma Summerhayes of EE was in it either!

    She was indeed, as was her husband Ben Hull (he played Adam Green.)

    The lady who plays Rita in Casualty was also in it, and someone from Night & Day later joined the FA cast (think his name was Seb Castang.)

    The bloke who played Dave Matthews does a lot of voice overs on adverts these days.
  • MelSingletonMelSingleton Posts: 1,894
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    attitude99 wrote: »
    Thanks ^_^

    I always felt Family Affairs got better when Stanley Street came into it, it felt more open, like Brookside when they got the Parade :D

    Also I never realised DC Emma Summerhayes of EE was in it either!

    Anna Acton who plays Emma Summerhayes was a long running regular in Family Affairs, playing Geri. I recall she was in a big storyline involving a rape trial. Before playing Geri, Acton had done a brief role in EastEnders as Beppe Di Marco's one night stand.
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