Some television shows are cruelly ended before their time. Others – Star Trek: Enterprise, I’m looking at you – are quite rightly offed before they have the chance to do any further damage.
Our writers nominated Heroes, Twin Peaks and the bizarre Heil Honey I’m Home! in the latter category. Below, we list our readers’ own suggestions, from a truly sinister 1960s comedy to a terrible 1980s soap opera.
Sense8
Fan outrage has impelled Netflix to bring back the Wachowskis’ chaotic, high-concept series for a two-hour finale, after its intended five-year run was mothballed after two seasons. We should finally get to see what happens to Wolfgang – though not all of you are delighted to see that it’s back.
K9 and Company
The much-missed Elisabeth Sladen and her ludicrous robot dog finally got the series they deserved in the nu-Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. But back in 1981 John Nathan-Turner had hoped to turn the Who pairing into an Avengers-style show. All that survives of that dream is this very, very strange pilot.
Thompson
For those who don’t remember it, yes, the 1980s were a weird time during which we would watch pretty much anything. This theory was stretched by the Emma Thompson sketch and song vehicle “Thompson”, canned after a single series. Probably for the best?
It was better than its ratings and critics suggested, but its cancellation led to Emma Thompson’s move away from sketch comedy to acting in a broad range of roles, and I doubt that she would have been cast in films like Howard’s End or The Remains of the Day if she had established herself as a posher Victoria Wood.
My Mother the Car
A sitcom about a guy who discovers his dead mother has been reincarnated as an ancient car ... with hilarious consequences. My Mother the Car only got one outing, but it was where James L Brooks got his first TV writing gig, so at least it provided inspiration for Abraham Simpson’s ghost giving Moe Szyslak romantic advice in the Lovematic Grandpa.
Hardwicke House
It’s not quite Heil Honey I’m home, but a show set in a comprehensive school with a drunk headmaster and a collection of teachers who either seem to be a) murderers b) lusting after the students or c) inexplicably from Iceland, suffered tabloid outrage upon its airing in 1987. It was pulled after two episodes.
Bit surprised 'Hardwicke House' from 1987 is not included.Set during Thatcherism's height in a truly bog standard state school,it was too unpleasant if indeed too close to home to be funny as intended.It was cancelled after just two episodes,with four others left in the can,one of them featuring Rik Mayalll and Ade Edmondson.
Albion Market
What could be more exciting than a continuing drama (read: soap opera) set in a covered market in Salford? Conceived as a companion piece to Coronation Street, one of our readers remembers Albion Market as “an utterly nihilistic viewing experience whereby I believed that parts of my brain had indeed died.” It was put out of its misery after a year, but not before Helen Shapiro – yes, that Helen Shapiro – had been added to the cast.
Big Top
This actually happened.
I seem to recall a diabolically awful series on the Beeb called Big Top. It starred (I use the term loosely) Amanda Holden as...wait for it...Lizzie, the Ring Mistress.
I swear to God I'm not making that up. It made Heil Honey I'm Home look like The South Bank Show....
Which was, incidentally, another series cancelled before its time...
I hear they've cancelled Sense8 - I'd add that to the list. Great opening season but the actual plot got waylaid in favor of tedious romantic entagelements. Said gongs on might have been politically brave, empowering etc etc but I just pined for some action, forward momentum, anything!