Reports from June 2002 when the news that Peak Practice would not return was released.
Death of Peak Practice
Upset at Axing of popular show
The rural medical drama Peak Practice has been axed after 10 years despite attracting a healthy 6.7 million viewers in the last series.
ITV will replace it with a new spin-off medical drama which is also about a countryside surgery and, like its predecessor, will also be set in the Peak District.
The show’s stars are said to be extremely disappointed as another series was expected after the nail-biting cliff-hanger to the last one with Claire jumping into a quarry, dragging popular doctor Alex with her. The scene left viewers wondering who had survived and now they will never find out. A spokeswoman for the production company, Carlton, said that after 12 series a joint decision had been taken with ITV not to recommission it because the programme had become tired.
She said: “We decided it was time to move on. It has been going for nearly 10 years and we felt we needed to take a fresh look at things. I am sure the cast are disappointed but any actor knows that no series lasts for ever.”
Peak Practice was an instant hit when it was first screened in 1993, starring Kevin Whately and Amanda Burton. Simon Shepherd, who was also in the original series, left the show but returned in series 10 to join Maggie O’Neill and Gray O’Brien as his fellow doctors.
The main characters of the new drama, Sweet Medicine, will be husband and wife GP’s Nicholas and Deborah Sweet, who leave their London surgery to take over his father’s practice in Derbyshire.
Daily Express
TV axe for Peak docs
Medical drama Peak Practice has been axed by ITV1 after ten years.
The show’s stars are said to be ‘extremely upset’ after bosses decided to replace it – with ANOTHER medical drama set in the Peak District of England.
The show, originally starring Kevin Whately and Amanda Burton, had 6.7 million viewers when the last series ended in January. But the makers Carlton though it looked tired.
Replacement series Sweet Medicine is set in a Derbyshire’s GP surgery.
The Sun
Peak Practice is axed – for a medical drama
ITV1 has axed it’s long running medical drama Peak Practice.
Bosses decided the ten-year-old show about rural GP’s was showing it’s age after 12 series.
Do not adjust your set when it’s replacement reaches the screens, however. It will be another medical drama, also about GPs – and set, once again, in the Peak District.
At it’s height, Peak Practice pulled in around 12 million viewers. However, ratings fell as the years passed and last August ITV issued an ultimatum to producers, Carlton to come up with better storylines or face the chop. Peak Practice introduced racier plots and characters – including former Coronation Street star Eva Pope as a psychotic nurse – and the last series, which ended earlier this year, averaged a respectable 7.1 million viewers. ITV drama controller Nick Elliott has pulled the plug, however, saying the show has run it’s course.
A spokesman for Carlton said a joint decision had been taken with ITV not to recommission it. ‘Peak Practice gets good viewing figures but we decided it was time to move on,’ she added
‘It has been going for nearly 10 years and we felt we needed to take a fresh look at things. I am sure the cast are disappointed but any actor knows that no series lasts forever.’
Peak Practice was first screened in 1993 and originally starred Kevin Whately, Amanda Burton and Simon Shepherd.
All three moved on to other things but Shepherd, as dishy Dr Preston, returned for the 10th series and was joined by Maggie O’Neill and Gray O’Brien as his fellow doctors.
It’s replacement, Sweet Medicine, will be based around a family practice. The main characters will be husband and wife GPs Nicholas and Deborah Sweet, who leave their London surgery to take over his father’s practice in rural Derbyshire after his death.
The series follows their attempts to transform the sleepy practice into a cutting edge health centre, in the face of opposition from Nicholas’s formidable mother Georgina.
The Carlton spokeswoman said” ‘We wanted a new series but obviously people do like medical dramas and the Peak District is a great setting.’
Production will start next year and although casting has not yet begun, Carlton said the producers hoped to enlist some ‘familiar TV names’
Daily Mail
ITV DUMPS DOCS SOAP
Medical drama Peak Practice has been dumped by ITV1 bosses after a decade of hit ratings.
The series about a rural d
octors practice has run for 12 series and still pulls in 6.7 million viewers.
But ITV said yesterday it decided to replace it with another country GP series called Sweet Medicine – also set in the Peak District.
Disappointed star Simon Shepherd, who plays Dr Will Preston said: ‘ITV is in a terrible state and we’re a casualty of it, no pun intended.’
ITV said ‘It’s going to have a relaunch but without the same actors.’
The Mirror
Peak Practice is Struck off
It has enchanted millions of viewers for a decade but the GPs in drama series Peak Practice have been told to put away their stethoscopes.
The sagas of gentle goings-on at a Derbyshire doctors surgery is to be replaced by a series about……doctors in the Derbyshire countryside.
Peak Practice made stars out of Amanda Burton and Simon Shepherd, whose character was written out and then returned for the final series, while former Coronation Street actress Eva Pope played a mad nurse.
The last series, which ended in January, clocked up 6.7 million viewers. But ITV director of drama Jonathan Powell said: ‘We felt the time was right for a fresh start in a new environment.’
The new series, Sweet Medicine, is about a family called Sweet who move from the city to the country.
Metro
COUNTY’S DOCTOR DRAMA IS DYING
Derbyshire medical drama Peak Practice has been axed after nine years – only to be replaced with another series about GPs in the county.
Despite 6.7 million viewers tuning in to the last episode of Peak Practice, which was aired in January, programme-makers say they were running out of ideas for the series and need a “fresh start”.
The series was based in the Peak District on the Derbyshire-Staffordshire border, with scenes filmed across the county and in Derby.
It was the creation of Derby writer Lucy Gannon, a former social worker, who developed the series in the early 1990s.
Hundreds of Derbyshire landmarks have appeared in the series over the years, alongside a host of local talent.
Laura Kendrick-Harrison (20), of Ashbourne, starred as a choir girl who took an overdose.
She said: “I appeared in the show when I was 15 and will always have very fond memories of the Peak Practice crew.
“I lived a lifestyle I never thought I would – being chauffeur-driven in a Mercedes car and being treated like a real star.
“It’s a shame the series had to end. When it first started, everyone was excited and we would watch it every week.”
Her mother, Pat Kendrick-Harrison (50), said has always been a fan of the show, which she believes showcased Derbyshire to the country. She said: “It made people very proud Derbyshire was being featured in a national television series.
“I am sure many people will be sad to see the series go.”
Entertainer Steve Beech, of Nottingham Road, Chaddesden, was an extra in the show for four years, but suspected something was wrong when his agent was not contacted by programme-makers Carlton.
Mr Beech said: “I’m surprised that this decision has been taken.
“When I was last working on set at the end of last year, there was certainly no suggestion of the programme being axed.
“It’s very sad, because Peak Practice was an opportunity for so many people from across Derbyshire to appear on TV.”
Actors from Peak Practice are said to be extremely disappointed by news of its cancellation.
Carlton spokeswoman Fiona Johnston said: “Programme- makers felt they had done everything they could with the characters. Sometimes script writers just run out of stories and that seems to be what has happened here.
“Although Peak Practice was hugely successful, we needed a fresh start.”
The show will be replaced by another medical drama, called Sweet Medicine, which will follow the lives of doctors Nicholas and Deborah Sweet as they attempt to set up a health centre in a Derbyshire village.
Carlton has yet to decide where it will be filmed, but production will begin next year.
Derbyshire Evening Telegraph
Peak Practice is struck off
ITV1 medical drama Peak Practice’s life support system has been turned off after 10 years.
TV bosses axed it after deciding it had run out of steam.
However, they have decided to make Sweet Medicine, a new 10-part drama about a family of doctors. It will be filmed in the Peak District, near where Peak Practice was set.
A spokeswoman said: “It will be made by the same team as PP. It is a kind of spin-off.”
ITV1 bosses see Sweet Medicine as a natural successor to Peak Practice.
Drama controller Nick Elliott said: “It is an exciting and natural progression from Peak Practice. The 10-part series will be made in 2003.”
Carlton drama director Jonathan Powell added: “We felt the time was right for a fresh start in a new environment, a contemporary rural series that combines the charm of the countryside and compelling medicine.”
An ITV1 spokeswoman said: “It is being replaced by Sweet Medicine as we wanted a fresh look. The format of Peak Practice is very good but it needed a new set of characters to give it a new interest.”
Original cast member Simon Shepherd returned to the show last year as GP Will Preston but, despite ratings of a healthy 6.7m, it could not escape the chop.
ITV1 chiefs have denied that Sweet Medicine is a rip-off of BBC1’s successful new GP drama Born And Bred.
The series set in ’50s Lancashire, with James Bolam and Michael French as father and son GPs, has given the BBC a big ratings boost with 9m viewers. A second series is planned.
An ITV1 spokeswoman said: “Sweet Medicine is about a family practice but it is contemporary and is nothing like Born And Bred.”
The last series of Peak Practice was a terminal case compared to its heyday, when it drew more than 12m viewers.
The Lucy Gannon-created drama was an instant success when it began in 1992. It starred Amanda Burton, Kevin Whately and Simon Shepherd.
Its replacement, Sweet Medicine, is about husband and wife GPs Nicholas and Deborah Sweet who swap London for Derbyshire after the death of his father. No-one has yet been cast for the roles.
Peak Practice to be replaced by another medical drama
Peak Practice has been dropped after 10 years.
ITV bosses have decided to ditch the medical drama despite viewing figures of around 6.7 million for the last series which ended in January.
It will be replaced with another medical drama based in the Peak District.
The stars of the programme are said to be extremely disappointed by the news.
A spokeswoman for Carlton said the show was looking tired after 12 series and a joint decision had been taken with ITV not to recommission it.
Its replacement, Sweet Medicine, will have the same setting and the same subject matter but will be based around a family practice.
The main characters will be husband and wife GPs Nicholas and Deborah Sweet, who leave their London surgery to take over his father’s practice in rural Derbyshire after his death.
The series follows their attempts to transform the sleepy practice into a cutting-edge health centre, in the face of opposition from Nicholas’ formidable mother Georgina.
The spokeswoman said: “We wanted a new series but obviously people do like medical dramas and the Peak District area is a great setting.”
Production will start on the new series, which is being developed by Peak Practice’s executive producer Sharon Bloom, next year.
Peak Practice treats its last patient
ITV’s Peak Practice has been axed after a decade but its successor, another medical drama set in the Peak District, has already been commissioned.
The future of the series had been in doubt for some time. In recent months, hit shows such as Spooks and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet have enabled the BBC to take ITV’s place as the home of popular drama.
Peak Practice, along with Heartbeat and London’s Burning, enjoyed considerable success during the 90s but ITV chiefs now realise they must reinvigorate the schedules with fresh ideas.
Although the last series of Peak Practice gained respectable average viewing figures of around 6.7 millon, ITV and the show’s producer, Carlton, have decided to bring the show to a close.
Peak Practice was first screened in 1992 and originally starred Kevin Whately, Amanda Burton and Simon Shepherd.
The three actors moved on to other projects but Shepherd returned for the 10th series. He was joined by Maggie O’Neill and Gray O’Brien, who played as his fellow doctors, while the former Coronation Street star Eva Pope played a psychotic nurse.
The show’s replacement, Sweet Medicine, is being developed by the Peak Practice executive producer, Sharon Bloom.
The series is unlikely to win any awards for originality. The main characters will be husband and wife GPs Nicholas and Deborah Sweet, who leave their London surgery to take over his father’s practice in rural Derbyshire after his death.
The series will follow their attempts to transform the sleepy practice into a hi-tech health centre in the face of opposition from Nicholas’s formidable mother, Georgina.
“Peak Practice gets good viewing figures but we decided it was time to move on. It has been going for nearly 10 years and we needed to take a fresh look at things,” said a Carlton spokeswoman.
No more Peak Practice-ing in North Staffs
There’s disappointment in the North Staffordshire village of Longnor after it was announced the TV series Peak Practice is to be scrapped.
Recent runs of the programme were filmed in and around the village, and the cast and crew used local shops, pubs and hotels. It also attracted tourists.
Channel bosses have decided to ditch PP despite healthy viewing figures of around 6.7 million for the last series which ended in January. The stars of Peak Practice, which focuses on three doctors working in a rural GP surgery, are said to be extremely disappointed by the news.
Practice not perfect
But a spokeswoman for Carlton said the show was looking tired after 12 series and a joint decision had been taken with ITV not to recommission it. “Peak Practice gets good viewing figures but we decided it was time to move on. It has been going for nearly ten years and we felt we needed to take a fresh look at things. “I am sure the cast are disappointed but any actor knows that no series lasts forever,” she said.
Peak Practice was first screened in 1992 and originally starred Kevin Whately, Amanda Burton and Simon Shepherd. All three actors moved on to other things but Shepherd returned for the 10th series and was joined by Maggie O’Neill and Gray O’Brien as his fellow doctors, with former Coronation Street star Eva Pope playing a psychotic nurse.
Don’t despair though folks…
Carlton are planning to replace it with yet another medical drama based in the Peak District. The replacement, Sweet Medicine, will have the same setting and the same subject matter but will be based around a family practice. The spokeswoman said: “We wanted a new series but obviously people do like medical dramas and the Peak District area is a great setting.”
Production will start on the new series, which is being developed by Peak Practice’s executive producer Sharon Bloom, next year.