Host The Week axed after just one episode | 'They don't all work,' C4 says © C4

Host The Week axed after just one episode

'They don't all work,' C4 says

Channel 4’s Host The Week has been axed after just one episode.

The opening edition of the new format, in which a celebrity is plunged into hosting a show with no instructions as to what will happen, attracted disappointing audience numbers and poor reviews.

Scarlett Moffat was the host for the opening episode along with guests including S Club 7 and Blue. But it attracted just 460,000 viewers – less than a third of the average audience that 9pm Thursday slot normally attracts.

This week’s episode was due to be fronted by Jack Whitehall, but it has been pulled. A third episode had also been commissioned from makers Tiger Aspect, with no host announced.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: ‘We’re brave enough to take risks with innovative programme ideas but also to acknowledge they don’t all work and move on.’

As last week's show was airing, Rory Bremner tweeted: ‘Really, C4? Really? If we want to see a well known woman struggle with no script, no rehearsal and no idea, we watch the news.’

Tiger Aspect was trying to expand on the success of its hits reality-comedy-improv-gameshow hybrid Murder In Successville – but it seems that without that show’s creator Tom Davis, the new format failed.

Read Chortle’s review here.

Published: 26 Jun 2017

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