Prime time ITV drama starring Martin Clunes axed after just one series after shock ratings flop
IT was a primetime thriller with a big name leading the cast — but that wasn't enough to make Martin Clunes' drama Out There a hit.
I can confirm it won't be getting a second series, after the debut outing failed to get the ratings it needed.
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The drama aired earlier this year with Martin playing a father trying to protect his son after he got involved in a network of drug dealers working across county lines.
The actor said last week: 'We were keen on doing a second series but ITV aren't, it seems. It didn't quite pull the numbers they wanted, unfortunately.'
The disappointing viewing figures are all the more surprising given that Out There comes from Buffalo Pictures.
It is the same production company that teamed up with Martin on hit crime drama Manhunt, as well as comedy drama Doc Martin and two wildlife shows also fronted by the actor.
Last night, ITV confirmed his worst fears, saying: 'We are really proud of Out There and would like to thank Martin and the production team for delivering a brilliant series.
'We do always hope to see our series return and we are sorry we didn't get this drama to connect with a big enough audience to see that happen.'
Martin played Welsh farmer Nathan Williams, who got sucked into a criminal underworld.
The six-parter explored the issue of urban drug gangs operating in rural areas.
They targeted Nathan's son Johnny, played by Louis Ashbourne Serkis, who is the real-life son of actors Andy Serkis and Lorraine Ashbourne.
Ryan's voice for underdog doc
HOLLYWOOD actor Ryan Reynolds is to narrate a new documentary series with breathtaking wildlife footage, about nature's underdogs.
It shows animals' hidden talents, surprising superpowers, odd parenting skills and gross grooming habits.
Underdogs is on Disney+ from June 16.
Cruises decks appeal
CHANNEL 4 is setting sail with a documentary series on cruises.
The summer eight-parter, being made under the name Secrets Of Supercruises, will follow Holland America's MS Rotterdam and MS Nieuw Statendam on three voyages.
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The cameras will capture action above and below deck on trips around the Caribbean, South America, North Africa and the Canary Islands.
Viewers also get to see onshore excursions, including rum-tasting and horse riding.
An insider said: 'The series will take viewers on a journey to some of the world's most beautiful places, but also give them insight into all the hard work it takes.'
Karen on Kevin divorce
STRICTLY's Karen Hauer would have battled to save her three-year marriage to fellow dancer Kevin Clifton if she believed he still 'wanted to be with her'.
She spoke to Celebs Go Dating relationships expert Paul C Brunson about their 2018 divorce on his podcast We Need To Talk.
Karen said: 'It hurt because we belonged together. I felt he distanced himself from me, but I was probably doing the same, because I felt that if you don't want me then OK, I'll retreat, I'll give you your space.
'I knew that I would've worked on it, I would've stayed. But at the same time, I couldn't be with someone who wasn't sure of whether they wanted to be with me or not.
'I couldn't just wait. He wanted a divorce, I didn't fight it. It was tough for him, tough for me.'
Kevin went on to find love with Stacey Dooley who was his dance partner on the 2018 series, which they eventually won.
DOVER DOC
CHANNEL 4 will take viewers inside the Port of Dover in a new series starting on Monday.
Dover 24/7: Britain's Busiest Port will follow staff as they make the crucial decisions that keep the key transport hub open, including managing its 15,000 passenger vehicles each day.
Legend's history in focus
MOVIE director Martin Scorsese is the subject of a five-part series for Apple TV+.
Called Mr. Scorsese, it is from fellow US filmmaker Rebecca Miller and will follow his career and personal history.
The documentary, which took five years to make, features interviews with friends, family and creative collaborators including Roberto De Niro, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio and Mick Jagger.
Steven Spielberg, Sharon Stone, Jodie Foster, Margot Robbie and Cate Blanchett will also make appearances.
Goodfellas director Martin, who has been making movies for five decades, will weigh in on his own life, and how his experiences shaped each film he worked on.
A clean pair of Beales
ALBERT Square is no stranger to dodgy dealings, but Lauren Branning and Peter Beale find themselves in trouble during one of their upcoming escapades.
The EastEnders duo, who are played by Jacqueline Jossa and Thomas Law, head down to a nearby wasteland in an episode that is currently being filmed for the BBC One soap.
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The pair, along with Peter's dad Ian, come up against a gang in what looks like a deal gone wrong.
Things quickly go from bad to worse when the trio are threatened with a cricket bat, and are forced to flee in a van.
It follows a bumpy few weeks for Lauren and Peter, who split up after the birth of their son Jimmy.
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Daily Mail
24 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
JOHN MACLEOD: The Clyde no longer clangs with the sound of hammers, but still the silver ferry glides across its waves
It's a muggy day in August 1979 and, atop a bicycle slightly too big for him, a mop-haired 13 year-old heads determinedly through western Glasgow by Anniesland Road, Kingsway and the main drag to Dumbarton. He's a bit lonely, very bookish and, worst of all, thirteen. But he likes ferries. They suggest change, transition, deliverance. And so he pulls up his Raleigh Wayfarer at the top of the great cobbled slip and, for long soothing minutes, watches the stately craft chug back and fore, along heavy guiding chains, between Renfrew and Yoker – and life feels that wee bit better. Negotiating the thunderous local traffic nearly half a century later, I wonder what possessed me. Yoker Ferry Road seems longer than I remember. Much around the slipway has been demolished. But the Clyde is a great deal cleaner. And, shortly, the wee silver landing-craft purrs across the wavelets. Danny, the perky young skipper, relieves me of £3 and, shortly, I am on my way to the other shore and, indeed, another local authority. A similar craft is perched high and dry on the Renfrew slip. 'Been there two year,' says Danny. 'They were supposed to change the ramp, and guys duly came and cut the old one off. We never saw them again.' 'Really?' 'They stopped returning our calls,' says Danny darkly. 'Good you're still going. I thought the new bridge...' 'It's hit us, aye – numbers are down half, about half – but there's still many that like the ferry.' The swingbridge in question, which finally opened earlier this month, is about ten minutes' walk downstream and, already, evidently popular. I amble across it, add West Dunbartonshire to my footfall, and note not just the steady purr of cars and vans – the new connection is especially useful for Braehead shopping – but a surprising number of pedestrians: young mums and dads with pushchairs. I glance upriver, and Danny is traversing the straits again, the sunlight glinting on his little 12-passenger vessel. The Clydelink landing-craft is not, of course, the ship I remember. She – imaginatively named the Renfrew – was a great square double-ended chain-ferry, diesel-electric, built in 1952, able to bear two dozen cars and for an era when thousands crossed the Clyde daily for work. And when she had occasionally to be drydocked and overhauled, a similar if smaller vessel – steam-powered, repurposed from Erskine upon 1971 redundancy – could relieve her. It might have seemed prosaic, but in its own wee way the Renfrew ferry is part of Greater Glasgow's rich tapestry. When the King and Queen in 1934 descended on Clydebank to launch the Queen Mary, it is said the Renfrew ferry that day conveyed some 22,000 excited sightseers. On two dreadful nights in March 1941, the ship toiled from dusk to dawn, flashes and explosions all around her, conveying ambulances and fire-engines to stricken Clydebank. And one of the Renfrew ferry crew was even a key witness in the 1958 trial of the murderous Peter Manuel. Even then, this was still one of many craft – some vehicular; other little launches for passengers only – that criss-crossed the river under the auspices of the Clyde Port Authority and when Glasgow was not just still the Second City of the Empire but the workshop of the world. All the ferries, in fact, were free, except for those at Renfrew and Erskine which were partly and wholly outwith Glasgow Corporation bounds. But life then began to grow lonely. Opened in 1963, the Clyde Tunnel was the finish of the ferries at Govan and Whiteinch. Other services – Stobcross, Meadowside, Finnieston – soon disappeared too and, with the demise of the little Kelvinhaugh ferry in 1980, the Renfrew was on her lonesome. And losing money in epic quantities, jangling back and fore with just two or three cars at a time. It was bonkers and, on a wistful day in May 1984, she voyaged for the last time, children and locals turning out in great number to make rather a gala of the occasion. It was not the end of the service. Two small bow-loading ferries – for passengers only, though capable of taking an ambulance over in emergency – assumed the crossing, and till 2010 the Renfrew Rose and the Yoker Swan served loyally and well. But the operational losses were increasingly crazy and they were finally withdrawn for new careers, respectively, on the Cromarty Firth and in the south of Ireland. Indeed, last year and in her new Hibernian briny the Yoker Swan, laden with finalists, had a chug-on part in Masterchef: The Professionals. Clydelink now took on the Renfrew to Yoker passage, with their glorified lawnmowers. 1984 was not quite doom for the broad-beamed chain ferries. The Renfrew floats to this day as an static, popular quayside venue upriver and, during the Glasgow Garden Festival, her older sister briefly served in a similar capacity. But by November 2000 Scotland's last steam-powered ferry, last of the long line of Erskine vessels, had foundered in Renfrew's little harbour, and was shortly demolished. The Clyde's latest bridges – a passenger swing-bridge opened between Govan and Partick last September – have proved rather a hit. It's good that the Clyde has now been so cleaned up that salmon have been running it happily, anew, since the late Seventies. Indeed, they were historically so plentiful that, according to tradition, Govan tradesmen could not feed it to their apprentices more than twice a week. But, steaming downriver on the Waverley or even just going for a long determined walk by its shores, by derelict this and gap-site that, one feels sad to see one of the greatest rivers in the world reduced to little more than a bit of pretty. Great tides of working men no longer flood Dumbarton Road as the end-of-shift siren wails, Glasgow is no longer reduced to a ghost-town in Fair Fortnight, and the merry chink and clang of hammers no longer reverberates in Scotstoun and Whiteinch. Danny is having a joyously busy day and, as I retrace my steps down the Renfrew cobbles, he is just sweeping in with his latest complement of passengers – Maw, Paw and three happy weans. The children turn and wave exuberant goodbye as I again cross Danny's palm with silver and his little craft backs out with a growl of outboard. Danny was in Lewis once. Lewis is nice, aye. 'Aye, I get lots of children. Kids just love the ferry…' And, of course – it was shut for some hours yesterday – the competing new bridge is not always available, adding further joyous footfall. Danny and colleagues are determined to maintain a service now at least in its fifth century – and I, for one, hope there is always a Renfrew ferry.
Scottish Sun
26 minutes ago
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Full details of Robert Sugden's Emmerdale return as Ryan Hawley reprises role permanently
EMMERDALE dropped a bombshell tonight with the return of Robert Sugden. The scheming murderer - who is played by actor Ryan Hawley in the ITV soap - made an entrance just in time to stop his ex-husband Aaron Dingle marrying Robert's murdering half brother John Sugden. 3 Robert is out of prison - for now - but his freedom isn't as straight forward Credit: ITV 3 He returned just in time to interrupt Aaron's wedding to his half brother John Credit: ITV 3 Robert will be back in prison by the end of the week Credit: ITV Now it can be revealed that Ryan will be back permanently - after his initial short stint ends. A source said: 'It will soon become clear that Robert's freedom isn't all that it seems and he will end up back behind bars for a little while. 'His full-time return will come later in the summer and it's set to be explosive. 'Bosses at the cash-strapped soap have pulled out all the stops to get him back so there's a lot of crossed fingers hoping it works.' Actor Ryan, who quit the show in 2019, had hoped to spread his wings acting-wise while away from the show. And despite landing roles in some major television shows, he had now admitted that it was a struggle at times. It even led him to move to Brazil with his wife Daisy Prestes de Oliveira and their children for a life away from the spotlight. 'I've got to do things like All Creatures Great and Small, Miss Scarlet, Casualty and Silent Witness,' he told the Mirror. 'I wasn't as busy as I would have liked, but that meant I got to be around my kids a lot, so I was very lucky.' And it was a call from co-star Danny Miller that convinced him to make a full-time return. Robert Sugden dumps Aaron Dingle from prison in Ryan Hawley's final Emmerdale scenes He added: 'I have had a few calls over the past six years to see how I would feel about reprising the role, but it never felt quite right. 'Recently, while I was living in Brazil with my family, where we had been for the past year, Danny texted to see how I would feel. 'We've always kept in touch, and after a lot of thought, I told him, 'Yeah, I am up for it. ' I then got a call swiftly from the producers, and it went from there.'
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Prosecuting man for burning Qur'an ‘reintroducing blasphemy law', court told
Prosecuting a man for burning the Qur'an is 'tantamount to reintroducing a blasphemy law' in Great Britain, a trial has heard. Hamit Coskun, 50, shouted 'fuck Islam', 'Islam is religion of terrorism' and 'Qur'an is burning' as he held aloft the burning Islamic text outside the Turkish consulate in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, London, on 13 February, Westminster magistrates court heard. Coskun denies a religiously aggravated public order offence of using disorderly behaviour 'within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress', motivated by 'hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam', contrary to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Public Order Act 1986. He also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of using disorderly behaviour 'within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress', contrary to section five of the Public Order Act 1986. At his trial on Wednesday, Katy Thorne KC, defending, said: 'The prosecution, in bringing this prosecution at all, is seeking to introduce a law unknown to this land, namely blasphemy in relation to Islam.' Blasphemy laws were abolished in England and Wales in 2008 and in Scotland in 2021. In Northern Ireland, blasphemy laws date back to the early 19th century and, while rarely used, blasphemy and blasphemous libel remain offences. Coskun, giving evidence via a Turkish interpreter, told the court that he has the 'right' to criticise Islam but said that he does not like using swear words. Thorne said that burning the Qur'an 'cannot be a criminal offence' and accused the Crown Prosecution Service of an abuse of process in its decision to bring the case against Coskun. She said in her written argument: 'To render such an act a criminal offence is tantamount to reintroducing a blasphemy law in relation to Islam, rendering the Qur'an a specially protected object in the UK, where a flag or another book would not be, and rendering trenchant or offensive criticism of Islam a criminal offence, is also akin to reinstating an offence of blasphemy. 'People must be free to exercise their religious or non-religious beliefs and to manifest those beliefs in whatever non-violent way they choose, and any curtailing by the state of that freedom must be absolutely necessary in a democratic society.' Thorne said that Coskun 'did not exhort hate' but voiced his dislike and frustration with a religion. She added: 'He expressed nothing to suggest that he was hostile to those who followed Islam. 'He did so outside the Turkish Consulate, a political institution, which provides further evidence he was not seeking to persuade others to dislike Islam, but express his personal criticism of Turkey and its stance on Islam. 'His protest was specifically political and thus, it is submitted, requires the highest protection of freedom of speech.' Prosecutor Philip McGhee said that Coskun was not being prosecuted simply for the burning of the Qur'an, but for 'disorderly conduct'. McGhee said of Thorne's argument: 'There is simply no misconduct in this case.' District Judge John McGarva ruled that there was no abuse of process and dismissed the application. McGhee added that the decision to prosecute does not affect the ability of others to criticise religion. The prosecutor had earlier said that Coskun had deliberately chosen the time and location of his demonstration. He went on: 'His actions gave rise to a very clear threat to public order and went beyond a legitimate expression of protest, crossing the line to pose a threat to public order.' Turkey-born Coskun, who is half-Kurdish and half-Armenian, travelled from his home in the Midlands on 13 February and set fire to the Qur'an at about 2pm, the court heard. Coskun had posted on social media that he was protesting against the 'Islamist government' of Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who the defendant allegedly said 'has made Turkey a base for radical Islamists and is trying to establish a sharia regime', prosecutors said. Coskun, who is an atheist, believes that he protested peacefully and burning the Qur'an amounted to freedom of expression, the court heard. Ahead of his trial, in a quote released through the Free Speech Union, he said: 'Encountering such treatment in a country like England, which I truly believed to be a place where freedom prevailed, was a real shock to me.' His legal fees are being paid for by the Free Speech Union and the National Secular Society. The Free Speech Union said it is defending him 'not because we're anti-Islam, but because we believe no one should be compelled to observe the blasphemy codes of any religion, whether Christian or Muslim'. The prosecution and defence have finished their cases, but a further hearing will take place on Thursday afternoon, with a verdict likely to come on a later date, the court heard.
