ITV axe two shows from its Christmas TV schedule as countdown to festive season begins
ITV has reportedly axed two entertainment shows for their festive telly offering.
Celebrity song contest Britain Get Singing and Saturday Night Takeaway's gameshow spin-off Ring My Bell have both been shelved by bosses, according to TV Zone.
The publication reported that Ring My Bell recorded a pilot episode earlier this year, which was hosted by Chris and Rosie Ramsey, however, the broadcaster has decided it will not be shown on screens over the festive season.
Just like the original segment in Saturday Night Takeaway, the premise of the show is that producers can 'hack' into audience members' Ring doorbell cameras up and down the country for a series of games involving people on their street.
One game, called What Happened Next, saw the audience guess what happened next in a clip taken from someone's Ring doorbell camera. Other challenges saw fans rushing to be the first person to appear at someone's door, or trying to be the first to bring them a specific item for the chance to play another game in the studio.
The segment was popular with viewers when it was part of Ant and Dec's fan-favourite ITV show, which finished earlier this year after more than 20 years on air, but bosses seem to have decided that it wasn’t worthy of a full show in its own right.
Meanwhile, the star-studded talent show Britain Get Singing has been a Christmas Eve staple for the last two years, but it won’t be on the telly this year. The programme saw groups made up of stars from television's biggest shows take to the stage to perform together
Last year the show, hosted by Roman Kemp, saw stars from Good Morning Britain, Love Island, Coronation Street, The Masked Singer and EastEnders compete against each other. According to TV Zone, although the show won’t be recorded in 2024 the door has been “left open for the format to return in the future”.
ITV has not commented on the reported axings.