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Will there be an Outcasts series 2?

Update 3: The interview with Ben Richards is live here! Read it for updates on season 2, thoughts on the cancellation and the down-low on the ratings.

Update 2: I’ve emailed a bunch of questions (including some reader submitted ones) to Ben Richards, who has promised a response but evidently not had a chance to do it yet. He mentioned being in discussions with the BBC about some kind of resolution to the show, although series 2 didn’t sound likely from our brief Twitter exchange. Will share more when I have it.

Update: The BBC doesn’t seem to be continuing to track for buzz about Outcasts so my more recent posts haven’t been flagged on the official Outcasts page. Fans visiting this page might be interested in my follow up posts: Why do ratings matter for the BBC? and How to protest the Outcasts cancellation. You might also be tangentially interested in this comparative cost of TV license fee chart, across Europe.

In addition, show creator Ben Richards has agreed to talk to me about the Outcasts cancellation. Please submit any questions you would like me to put to him here.

Original post follows…

No, sadly not. Here’s the confirmation via the BBC Outcasts Facebook page, and here’s an interview where the show creator/writer Ben Richards talks about why he thinks it all went down the way it did (not without bitterness.) It sounds, broadly speaking, like it was felt that the show missed its mark in terms of hitting a mainstream audience, didn’t get the ratings it needed (no idea if iPlayer ratings came into play) and misjudged its pacing. The episode length issue is discussed – an hour slot was tough to write for.

I still haven’t finished catching up on the show and will do so in the next couple of weeks and share my thoughts. Will also probably do a final “best of comments” as I’ve had an overwhelming number on here thanks to the trackbacks from the BBC website and there have been some fantastic comments about the show – positive and negative – some of which are worth highlighting! Thanks all for your contributions.

A cynical part of me is a little melancholic if the BBC One controller, Danny Cohen, is going to drive all his television making decisions based on ratings in quite this way (as indicated by this), but I guess if the show was designed for a mainstream audience and had a mainstream budget then its a fair enough decision. Although as per the comments, and as a fan of shows with complex and long-running story-arcs (Joss Whedon fans out there?), it can take a while for these things to build…

As a partial aside, whilst we’ve both been watching Outcasts, Amanda and her brother and mum have been watching a niche piece of BBC4 television, Danish crime drama The Killing. I guess as a BBC4 programme specifically designed for a niche audience the criteria are different (and the critical feedback has been much more consistently positive than Outcasts’), but I can’t help but wish/hope that the kinds of decisions that spur the funding of programmes like that would support things like Outcasts too. Why is all BBC SciFi/Fantasy output ‘mainstream’ (Dr Who, Torchwood, Merlin etc) – isn’t there room for some niche sci-fi from the Beeb?

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880 comments

By Armand – March 15, 2011

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  • Ccapehart1980

    okay most of those shows that were named blow torchwood blows dr who is horrible merlin is terrrible but outcasts was really good and it gets freakin canceled wtf 

  • Dan

    Loved it. It was a true eye opener for those who believe there is more out there. Why oh why isn’t this a series.
    I will talk to the Director of “The Killings” to see if he can continue it. I think it would be great. Craig however might not

  • Markdon

    I would LOVE to see Season 2. Great acting, great directing and great storyline. Love most everything about it.

  • New Englander

    Does anyone else get the feeling that all BBC would have to do to make money on shows like Outcasts and Survivors is show it in the U.S. to people like us?  BBC, if you can’t make enough money in Britain, show it here on Amazon and Netflix.  I will GLADLY pay $1.99 an episode for really good story-oriented Sci-fi!  Hell, half of us wish we were British anyway.  Use that and connect with your cultural cousins!

  • Ghostfalcon

    I second that notion, I am from the US and I loved Outcasts. I would think to try anything just to keep it going. A great series, one that is rare to find these days. One with a plot, character development, action, interesting developments in both the political side with Julius and the CT-10 just arriving. I really do hope for a Season 2, whatever form it takes. 

  • Bobbi

    I definitely agree with you, I was just really getting hooked when I discovered only one season was being made……….BOOOOO to the networks you allow some of the most crapest shows to stay on the air but cancel the good ones.  This is the reason I don’t pay for cable, dish or anything else…..it is a waste of money and there never is anything good on and don’t get me started on reruns.

  • Vince

    Great show .. sad to see that it will not be coming back :(  

  • Steinfi3

    I’m seeing a common theme. American… Netflix… same here.  I loved the show and I am now quite sad.  I wonder what kind of revenue is created through shows that are successful on netflix.

  • Scieslaw

    Just saw the first season on Netflix.  Would like to at least see a movie, resolving all the pending plot lines, like Firefly.  That was a great way to end it.  Proabably made a lot of money also, from all the devoted fans, who are still watching on cale and Netflix.

  • Michael

    I know alot of followers will be upset here in the states. It’s sad when the BBC gets a show that realy works well with the audience and then cancels it. I think you should look at dropping other shows , and leave the ones that work alone. Thank god for NetFlix.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001365788701 Travis Nickerson

    Yes, do try every avenue to keep it going. One more American that found it on Netflix. I’ll admit the first episode through me for a loop. Left me a little predigest on some of the characters. Episode by episode it brilliantly worked it away.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1297760791 J Alexander Vernon

    Here’s a great idea, how about continuing for the, obviously, interested US audience. It’s been so long since anyone has made a good classic feel sci fi series that it would be a shame to allow this one to just fade away.
    GREAT show. BBC really dropped the ball and misread the potential with this one

  • USA Netflix Viewer

    Just finished Outcasts season 1 on Netflix and loved the series. I was very disappointed that the show was cancelled. I hope with all the fan support that there will at least be a TV movie finale or another network will pick up the show before the cast signs on to other projects.

  • Qdaily

    Another great show cancelled.  I’m very disappointed.  It’s like breaking up with SGU all over again.  Oh well, life goes on, stop being so selfish everybody.  What about the people who made the show?  You think they are going to sign petitions and whine all day online?  

  • Herb fisher

    I’m hooked by now!  Please do Season 2!!!!!!

  • Mdurwin

    This is the last straw. I’m no longer going to watch network TV. It’s true that I watched it on Netflix, but I’m sick of well cast, well written, well directed shows being cancelled while ridiculous shows like keeping up with the Karasians continue. Obviously networks don’t care about quality television, just selling ads. I understand their model, but if they provide a few shows as loss leaders it would keep us watching their other crap.
    If I can work out a way to just get Starz, Showrime, and HBO, I’ll stick with those and Netflix.

  • Bcananzey

    I really was unsure about this show. I am an American and have enjoyed some BBC shows but have been disappointed by many more. This show was deff one of the best shows i have seen. Again another netflix latecomer to the show and was very disappointed with the news of one season. I can only hope america decides to take it on like they do with all their shows that we steal from the britts. Wont be as good im sure but at least we would have more story to follow. Life on mars was a personal favorite and only 1 season. Maybe in the world of profit over Quality we should have more 1 season shows with def ends. Then if it takes off we could spin off or create a new story line to add on another season. Being left hanging is almost criminal to those who invest their time and love into these characters.

  • 2jgs

    US citizen here. I too found it on Netflix. I loved it, got to the 4th episode and decide to google it before I invested more emotion into it. Only to find out that once again a great show was cancelled before it’s time.

  • Carlenhervig

    What an amazing show, especially at a time when there are so many canned laughter sitcoms and reality shows that are not even worth viewing time.  PLEASE PLEASE bring back many more episodes of “Outcast”.  It is by far our favorite show.  

  • Riverratx56

    I too am an American and pretty much feel the same as most on here. This was a welcome change from the BS on TV here and a shame it was only one season, bad move BBC

  • epiking501

    Just add me to the list of viewers wishing for yet another season or two. This was raelly my kind of Sci-Fi

  • Schlagsahne

    Can not believe they cancelled this show!  I loved it.  What a bummer to get to the 8th episode and find there were no more.  A suggestion for BBC-not follow the Amercian TV standards.  Why do you think we watch so many British and Canadian series?

  • Ken

    Very rediculous that it was canceled after one season….and on only 8 episodes to boot!

  • Tim

    Australian here, really loved it.  Wish it hadn’t been cancelled.  One of the few shows that I bothered to watch on TV rather than download.

  • Jidar

    This is a great show, much better than Terra Nova! Sorry the Brits didn’t like it, they should give it a try here in the US. Maybe the SyFy channel will pick it up or maybe Netflix. We can only hope! I really want to know what happened to Earth and what awaits on the ship that just landed.

  • Robert

    I just finished watching this show on Netflix also and I loved it, to find out that it was cancelled is really sad. I hope that they do something with it instead of just leaving it hanging. As another person stated they can continue it on Netflix streaming at least, but I would prefer to see if get picked up again and if need be by another network. This is a great show and if it came back I would watch it no mater waht since I am a scifi junky and we have lost so many scifi shows here in the US.

  • Ttjordna81

    Another American here… I saw this show on Netflix and ask myself where did this show come from. I like where this story was going. Its sad to see the show fall pray to stupid network ratings. The content providers have to change the business model on how they deliver content. Idea. Sell the show to Netflix or Put the series on kickstarter.com and I will be happy to pay, tweet, and tell everyone I know to support the funding for more episodes. 

  • jamie1566

    This comment is for the “Outcasts” article. I have to thank the creators of this wonderful story. I watched the first episode on Netflix and was hooked, I ended up watching all the available episodes in one day. Yes there were some quarks but it was easy to loss your self in the story and you felt a connection with the cast after just one episode. I wish the BBC would at least let the story have a proper ending and address some of the many questions about the story that were in desperate need of an answer. Thanks to the creators of the show and the wonderful escape it provided, if only for a few hours. I will not soon forget it and the wonderful cast members that brought it to life.

  • Jim M

    The humanity of the characters contrasts vividly with e.g. the insipid, political-correctness and  blandness of the ‘Jean Luc Picard’-era Star Trek series.  How THAT went season after season and Outcasts gets tossed after one is sad, and a sad commentary on the entertainment industry (on BOTH sides of the Atlantic!!).  Perhaps its the acting but the extremely human and compassionate interplay between the Richard Tate character and the captain of the doomed transport in the first episode set the mark for a really inspiring, highly imaginary series.  It was refreshing to know that in our future, true human qualities arent morphed away.  Now if only the BBC could ‘get it’.

  • HxCam89

    A Texan here. Saw the show on Netflix, and it was awesome! Reminded me a little of Firefly. To bad there wont be a second season. Start a petition and ill sign it to bring back Outcasts!

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