THE Doctor Blake franchise looks to have come to an end with the Seven network deciding against running a planned series of telemovies this year.
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The Ballarat-based series, which originally starred Craig McLachlan and had been re-tooled into “The Blake Mysteries” starring Nadine Garner, had been scheduled to run four telemovies as a lifeline after the show was axed after five seasons on the ABC.
The first of the four planned movies aired on November 30, the final Friday of the 2018 rating period and drew 450,000 viewers, about half it’s peak audience on the ABC.
While not directly confirming the series had ended, a Seven spokesperson told TV Tonight Australia, “At this stage, our 2019 schedule is firming up and we simply don’t have appropriate time slots for a series.”
The series’ five season run ended on the ABC with a telemovie in which the title character, GP, police surgeon and self-styled sleuth, Dr Lucien Blake (McLachlan), married his housekeeper, Jean Beazley (Garner).
The series remained homeless until a deal was done with Seven to produce four telemovies. The hope was that, if they proved popular, there would be four a year for three years.
Producers Tony Wright and George Adams all but confirmed the end had come, also speaking to TV Tonight Australia late last month saying, “What a personal privilege it’s been to bring you this show from season one until now, and what a delight it was to create this telemovie for Channel Seven.
“Nadine Garner and the entire cast and crew were indeed superb. Once again, thanks to all of you who got behind it.”
It is understood the unforeseen absence of McLachlan, who will start a defamation case against Fairfax Media in February, and the fact that Seven has already committed to another ABC spin-off of Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries which will also be set in Victoria in the 1960s with a female detective has seen the demise of the popular show.
However, it won’t be long again until Ballarat is seen on the small screen with Dr Clare Wright’s Stella Prize-winning book The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka to be adapted for televisions, after winning funding for the development of an eight-part television series.
The series is slated to be shot in 2020.
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