Cilla Black's hopes of marking her 40th year in showbusiness with a special programme on ITV, her home for much of her television career, look almost certain to be dashed.
ITV has turned down a fly-on-the wall documentary about the veteran entertainer, which is being put together by her son and agent, Robert Willis.
The broadcaster is understood to have offered Black the chance to front An Audience With... entertainment special to mark her 40th year in the business.
But she is said to have spurned this opportunity and ITV was not interested in her alternative proposal of the documentary.
Black shocked ITV executives in January when she announced on the first ever live edition of Blind Date that she was quitting the long-running Saturday night show at the end of the series.
She presented her final edition of Blind Date, which she has hosted since it launched 18 years ago, last month.
At the time of Black's spectacular on-air resignation the Granada director of entertainment, Paul Jackson, who oversaw Blind Date and the star's relationship with ITV, said the broadcaster still hoped to celebrate her 40th year in showbusiness.
An insider said the fact no anniversary special had materialised did not mean ITV would not work with Black again.
"Robert is trying to flog this documentary but the feeling is it doesn't really fit for ITV. We offered Cilla An Audience With..., which she turned down," the ITV source said.
"But there's no bad feeling. Something may still happen [to commemorate Black's anniversary] and we're still doing other things with her."
The decision is an ignominious chapter in the star's long history with LWT and Granada.
She became the nation's favourite TV presenter when Blind Date launched in 1985 but the show's ratings plummeted in the 90s and many observers thought the format looked tired.
However, Black was protected by Granada bosses, particularly the ITV director of programming, David Liddiment, who took great exception to any suggestion she was past her sell-by date.
While ITV appeared publically to be full-square behind Blind Date, the show wilted further in the ratings on being relegated to a pre-teatime slot when the Premiership football highlights programme launched at 7pm.
Black was particularly hurt by this and the schedule was hastily rearranged after football viewers failed to tune in and, importantly, the presenter telephoned the Granada executive chairman, Charles Allen, to beg him to improve the situation.
The writing appeared to be on the wall when an approach to daytime TV presenter Trisha Goddard was leaked to the press, leading Black to defend her position claiming it was "her" show and could not be handed to anyone else.
ITV has already filmed a special programme celebrating the 20th anniversary of Black's other long running entertainment show, Surprise Surprise, which will be broadcast later this year.
Mr Willis said talks with broadcasters about the 40th anniversary documentary were still ongoing but declined to comment further.
A BBC spokesman said the show had not been offered to the corporation.
A Channel 4 spokeswoman said the channel was talking to Black about a potential programme but could not say whether it was related to the veteran performer's 40th year in showbusiness.
