BBC dumps The Fades despite critical acclaim, BAFTA nomination

The BBC will not be making a second series of its critically acclaimed supernatural science-fiction drama, despite its recent success in America and being nominated for Best Drama at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards.

The details in today’s Radio Times confirm that the drama will not be returning. The Radio Times (RT) was responding to a question posed by Daryl Millar to the listings magazine’s “You ask us” section. Millar asked whether the drama – which stars Iain De Caestecker (24) as Paul and Daniel Kaluuya (22) as Mac – was returning for a second run, to which RT replied: “Sad to say, The Fades has not been recommissioned.” Previously, Zai Bennett, the controller of BBC 3, the commissioning channel of The Fades, would not be drawn on whether the show would return. This despite it being well received by UK viewers when it was broadcast in 2011. However, towards the end of its first run, de Caestecker told Digital Spy that the cast was optimistic. “We’ve all got our fingers crossed. I was talking to the writer [and creator] Jack [Thorne] the other day and he was saying he hadn’t heard yet, but we’ll probably find out soon,” he said. Earlier this year, responding to the positive reception the series was receiving from American viewers, TG Daily reported that the production team had two more series already mapped out. This Is The Fades Meanwhile, in January, the show’s producer, Caroline Skinner, gave an upbeat interview to io9 in which she said the BBC were happy with the reception The Fades had received. “There’s been a hugely positive response to it in the press and among the fans [and] the BBC were incredibly pleased with the way that it went down. We’re just waiting on decisions at the moment [it’s] a big trilogy of stories […] All you can do is get bigger.” Prior to The Fades, Thorne wrote for the original UK version of the TV drama series Skins and with Shane Meadows on This Is England ‘86 and This Is England ‘88. He also wrote the screenplay for the 2009 movie The Scouting Book for Boys and is rumoured to be writing a film version of Skins. Skinner is currently working on Doctor Who, as an executive producer, alongside Steven Moffat. De Caestecker was seen at Christmas/New Year as James Herriot, in Young Herriot, a three-part TV prequel to All Creatures Great and Small. From 2009 to 2011, Kaluuya played Tealeaf in the surreal comedy-horror series Psychoville and was most recently seen in Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror. Since becoming controller of BBC 3 in 2011, Bennett has come in for criticism on a number of occasions for decisions relating to commissioning of programmes for the digital channel – most notably by Moffat for cancelling Doctor Who Confidential, the behind-the-scenes making-of documentary series that compliments the BBC’s long-running science-fiction drama series Doctor Who. That led to a massive online campaign and petition to have the decision overturned. At this year’s BAFTAs, The Fades will be competing for the Best Drama award alongside Misfits – the E4 cult science-fiction series, which stars Lauren Socha, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Joseph Gilgun.