But 'will work with him again'

BBC Two has decided to drop the Stephen K Amos Show after its first series.

The mix of stand-up, characters and guests launched in November last year with an audience of 1million, and a mixed critical reaction.

And although the show will not be returning, the BBC says it will continue to work with Amos.

Earlier this year BBC comedy commissioner Cheryl Taylor warned that several shows, especially on BBC Two, would have to be cut to make way for new ones, given the department’s limited budget. Now it has been confirmed that Amos’s show has been a victim of that axe.

A BBC spokesman told Chortle: ‘Stephen's show won't be coming back to BBC Two as there is so much great comedy on the channel, we just can't bring everything back. But we are working with Stephen on other projects and think he's a big talent.’

Before he landed his own show, Amos famously joked that the BBC had a quota on black entertainers – and that Lenny Henry would have to die before the BBC gave him a series.

When the series launched, The Scotsman’s TV reviewer Paul Whitelaw called it ‘a dreadful debut comedy vehicle for the seasoned stand-up... painfully strained and old-fashioned.’

The biggest criticism in both the Guardian and the Telegraph was that Amos played it too safe, with the Telegraph’s Ed Cumming saying that although some of the ‘non-threatening’ show was good, Amos seems so anxious not to offend that he sometimes spikes his own guns.’

But his colleague on the same paper Gerard O'Donovan said: ‘Stephen K Amos's mix of stand-up, sketches and original guest acts is proving to be one of Friday evening's more reliably entertaining destinations.’

Amos will next be seen on the Dave channel’s improv show pilot Improvisation, My Dear Watson, which airs at 10pm next Tuesday. Hosted by Mark Watson the team also includes Rufus Hound, Josie Long, Isy Suttie,Colin Hoult and Charlie Baker.

Published: 30 Jun 2011