Controversial Channel 4 series Go Back To Where You Came From 'axed' after one series
Go Back To Where You Came From followed six Brits, all with varying views and opinions on immigration, as they were placed in Syria and Somalia and instructed to follow the path that some asylum seekers would take to reach the UK. The aim of the show was to reveal to the participants just how perilous the journey to safety was for many people.
Channel 4 has now confirmed that the show will not be returning for a second series. A spokesperson told The Sun: “Go Back to Where You Came From was commissioned as a single series of event television, and we are immensely proud of what it achieved in creating national conversation about a hugely important issue. Any allusions to this programme being ‘cancelled’ are entirely false.”
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Hide AdHowever, according to a source close to the show, falling viewership over the four-part series was part of reason for the decision not to return to Go Back To Where You Came From. The source told the newspaper: “Of course, Channel 4 will maintain they only made this as a stand alone show but the scope to continue the show with another batch of Brits was obvious.
“If the ratings were higher then it might well have had a sequel but it didn’t seem to capture the viewers imagination, even if some of the contestants' views did inspire a fiery response.”
The show split viewers when it aired in February. Some labeled the show as “divisive” and “shocking”, while others described the immersive show as “eye-opening”.
The series saw four participants with anti-immigration viewpoints and two others with opposing views make the perilous journey through the Middle East and Africa, climbing over border crossings and even crossing the Channel on a small boat. Go Back To Where You Came From was based on an Australian show of the same name, which aired in the country between 2011 and 2018.
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