BBC axed puppet sitcom

BBC Three has axed its puppet sitcom Mongrels after two series.

Creator Adam Miller said it was his ‘unbearably sad duty to announce’ the news via Twitter.

He thanked all those the BBC who ‘have supported us so strongly... over the years, and helped us put our silly puppet show on the digital screens of the nation’ but admitted it wasn’t winning enough ratings.

On Twitlonger, which allows users to post longer messages on Twitter, he wrote: ‘I’d like to believe that there’s room on television for a little show like ours; one that's not just another sitcom, one that tries to do things a bit differently and that tries to push a few boundaries here and there. Who knows, maybe we’ll find that room in the future. I hope it has a minibar.

‘But why listen to me moan when you can listen to a chimpanzee singing. Thank you for watching. Both of you.’

When the second series launched in November it attracted around 350,000 viewers – down from the 410,000 average of series one, and the 500,000 average for the slot.

Comedian Dan Tetsell, who plays idiotic cat Marion, added on Twitter: ‘If you were (like me) hoping Mongrels would get a 3rd series, I've got some bad news... We've all been sacked now.’

The news means that in just under a year at the helm of BBC Three, controller Zai Bennett axed almost all the station’s previous comedies, including Ideal, How Not To Live Your Life, Lunch Monkeys and Two Pints Of Lager.

He has said he needed to clear the schedules to make room for new shows, including a stand-up vehicle for Jack Whitehall, Sharon Horgan and Holly Walsh’s prison-based comedy Life Story, and Pramface, about two teenagers having a baby.

Here is that singing chip from Mongrels:

Published: 18 Jan 2012