Channel 4 slash award-winning hit comedy by half a series in desperate bid to save money | The Sun
CHANNEL 4 has continued its shock cull of programmes by slashing one of its most popular comedy entertainment programmes in a bid to save money.
Broadcast has reported that The Last Leg has seen its episode count cut amid budget cuts at the network.
The Last Leg has aired on Friday evenings on Channel 4 since 2012 and whilst it will return later this year, it will be a much shorter run than originally planned.
It has been alleged that the show has decreased from nine episodes to just seven.
The show is fronted by comedians Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker and will launch its epic 28th series later this month.
It is not the only format to see its fate uncertain amid continued budget cuts at Channel 4.
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It has been revealed that Kirstie Allsopp's popular daytime series, Kirstie's Handmade Christmas, is being rested for a year.
The decision to take the show off air for 12 months comes as Channel 4 strives to cut costs amid an ad marketing slump of between 10 and 20 per cent.
Deadline reports that Channel 4's content chief Ian Katz phoned Kirstie, 51, last week to tell her the news personally.
The star told the outlet: "I know it’s not personal. We all take a hit on different things at different points in time.
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"Hopefully, the ad market will improve and we’ll be back again.”
The news of changes to The Last Leg and the resting of Kirstie's Handmade Christmas follows a long line of shows to be axed in a bid to save cash.
The network has made a series of big decisions lately, axing SAS: Who Dares Wins and reality show Murder Island, while the future of Rise and Fall hangs in the balance.
It was previously revealed that Channel 4 was cancelling shows at the eleventh hour, as well as asking suppliers to rethink budgets mid-shoot and pushing projects back until next year in a bid to deal with the costs.
Khalid Hayat, Channel 4’s Director of Strategy, told a committee of lawmakers on Tuesday: "Our priority throughout this period is to preserve shows as much as we can, to minimise any disruption or cancellations to commissioning and any decisions that we make are about ensuring the sustainability and delivering the sustainability of Channel 4’s remit delivery."
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