Andrew Neil’s Sunday night political show has become the latest victim of cuts at Channel 4.
The veteran broadcaster moved to the channel last year after his departure from GB News and received plaudits for his eponymous half-hour weekly Sunday evening programme.
However, the Guardian has learned that the show will not be returning this year and Neil and the broadcaster have not yet decided if it will be back in 2024.
There have so far been three series of The Andrew Neil Show, starting in May last year and finishing this April.
Channel 4 has axed or paused a number of shows recently due to a slump in advertising, which it relies on to generate money to commission shows.
Casualties include a reboot of the reality series Four Weddings, and it has held off on other programmes such as a planned daytime series of Kirstie Allsopp’s one-off festive special Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas.
The content chief, Ian Katz, recently wrote to producers about why C4 had reined in its spending, explaining: “Regrettably, we’ve had to rest or not proceed with a small number of shows before they were financially greenlit.”
With a general election looming next year, the loss of such a big political name as Neil’s will be a blow to viewers, although politicians may be relieved not to have to face his tenacious interviews.
Neil joined Channel 4 in 2022 after stepping down as the chair and host of a primetime show on GB News the previous year amid differences of opinion over the direction of the channel.
He was the face of GB News when it launched but said subsequently he had come close to having a breakdown while at the station, saying: “It would’ve killed me to carry on.”
He left after presenting just eight shows, reportedly due to his concerns about technical issues and the network’s editorial stance.
When he joined Channel 4, Neil said he was “honoured and delighted” to take on the new role. “Sunday night is a pivotal point in the political week – we can sweep up what’s happened in the previous week, mop up what’s been in the Sunday papers and talkshows and throw forward to the upcoming week,” he said.
Prior to GB News, Neil hosted BBC’s This Week and other election and political programmes and was also previously editor of the Sunday Times. He remains a key political figure as chair and editor-in-chief of Press Holdings Media Group, the publisher of the Spectator and other titles.
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Neil’s agent, Jonathan Shalit, the chair of InterTalent agency, said: “Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show will not be returning this year … though Andrew and Channel 4 have yet to decide if it will return next year.”
Channel 4 and Neil’s producers, ITN, will be hoping its fortunes may have bounced back by then. Other British commercial broadcasters such as Channel 5 and ITV have also been hit by the advertising downturn, which is partly driven by inflation and the cost of living crisis as advertisers tighten their belts.
Executives at Channel 4, which was recently saved from privatisation, have deferred taking bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to help combat its financial constraints. It also scrapped a planned pay rise after anger from TV producers hit by the broadcaster’s cuts to programme-making.
Executives at Channel 4, which was recently saved from privatisation, deferred taking bonuses in May worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to help combat its financial constraints.
A source at the broadcaster said its executives also scrapped a planned pay rise due to “inflationary pressures” but claimed overall it was in good financial health and simply taking “precautionary measures”.
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