Seven ends development on A Place to Call Home
Seven has ended development of its third season and actor contracts have lapsed.
- Published by David Knox
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Seven has ended production development on the third season of A Place to Call Home and options for cast members have not been renewed.
A decision made last week means the show’s future is now in doubt, and not expected to hit screens in 2015.
“The development of series three is off the deck,” a spokesperson told TV Tonight.
“It’s no longer on the list. It’s put aside.
“The decision not to proceed on Series 3 was a Programming decision not a creative decision.”
The drama was created by Bevan Lee, who originally spoke about a vision of the show in three stages, driven by the characters’ past, presents and future. This season has also included ‘flash-forward’ moments as part of the storytelling.
While Seven has not ruled out an open door for the drama some time in the future, it made similar murmurs when City Homicide and Packed to the Rafters ended.
Other drama projects in development, include a completed pilot called Hartman’s Solution and more of Rebecca Gibney’s Killing Field vehicle, most likely under a new name.
Filming for Season Two of A Place to Call Home has been completed and is currently airing on Seven where it is winning its timeslot.
TV Week first reported Seven had passed on the series while The Age first reported contracts had lapsed.
Updated.
54 Responses
I cannot believe you axed a show that said so much. It gave a voice to homosexuality; it said volumes about bias and bigotry; it addressed social class and nationality. I loved “A place Called Home” for its brave story-lines. Congratulations to Bevan Lee; but please keep it going. Don’t let people forget they have been given a wonderful blueprint of life, real life.
Yeah, that’s typical…bombard us with crud like multiple sports events or gross amounts of kitchen & home restoration programmes and when there is finally something worth watching the tv people (for want of a polite term) deprive us of it.
i just don’t believe it a good wholesome show like A Place to Call Home admittedly i am over 60 my neighbour who also loves the show is in her 80’s also disapproves of this action i checked the ratings for the show on yahoo7 and it averages 1.5million viewers so what is wrong with that i just hope they bring it back at a later date and show the whole series again including season 3 if it is produced something that maybe more older viewers watch than younger viewers who may have deeper pockets than pensioners in regards to advertising just because enough of them don’t watch it us older Australians have to suffer
I’m so sad to hear this news but not really surprised as being great doesn’t mean as much as money these days. We have so much talent in this country we must try to keep it here. Its a real shame mediocre US shows about nothing get the airtime simply because they’re cheap. So disappointed channel 7. Loved the show so much I bought the DVD – and I’m in my 30’s, not 60’s.
I’m so sad to hear this news but not really surprised as being great doesn’t mean as much as money these days. We have so much talent in this country we must try to keep it here. Its a real shame mediocre US shows about nothing get the airtime simply because they’re cheap. So disappointed channel 7. Loved the show so much I bought the DVD – and I’m 37, not 67.
Australian TV has finally started to come into it’s own. Unfortunately it had to be in the middle of the digital age. Of course the younger crowd are watching reality shows. There is sense of urgency and you don’t want to risk anyone telling you the result the next day. The other shows we record or stream for later viewing. We’ll even wait for the whole season to come out so we can have a marathon. If Australian TV doesn’t find a way to capitalize on youth’s need for flexibilty a lot of good shows are going to fall to the wayside. The next generation are only going to want more flexibility and the under 30s of today are going to be the over 50s of tommorrow and we will be taking our viewing habits with us. If Aussie TV wants to capture the younger demographic they’re going to have to find a way to make money on how the youth watch TV otherwise Australian TV will just be reality…
If 7 already have their drama points why would they continue to produce a very expensive show that’s not rating as well as some of the cheaper dramas they produce? It is a business after all but it does seem a shame for all those who loved the show. APTCH was a bit panto for my taste, I’c rather be watching Puberty Blues but that probably won’t come back either.
Thanks David. You’re excellent!
But key word you used is ‘theory’…really, they have no clue. Also puzzles me that the ABC is pushing for a younger audience in their drama (part of reason why Miss Fisher took so long to get recommissioned) I think all the networks believe drama for over 50s needs to be dull – they still don’t get that 50 is the new 30!
David, I’m really curious as to why networks are so in love with capturing a younger audience, when as stated here, and it seems obvious, that older demo has more money to spend. Most sub-30 year olds I know don’t watch much tv. Might make the basis of a good article/investigation from you? Just a thought….
Hi Lizzie. Good question and one that has been looked at before. The short answer is the advertisers are interested in 25-54 demos. The theory is they have $$ and are not as entrenched with certain brands already. As they partake of other entertainment platforms, the challenge is to keep them engaged. Hence we get more news, sport, reality, local drama -most of which are not downloadable from elsewhere. Interestingly Seven suggests older viewers have deeper pockets.
Very disappointed to hear this,as this show is one of my favourites dramas on tv at the moment.I am surprised by 7’s decision to axe this show.It seems to be one of the highest rated dramas on tv at the moment.Yes,i know the demographics skew older,but tv networks should realise by now that 55 year olds actually have much greater spending power than those under 30.I wonder will this series be picked up by another network now?It seems like a natural fit for the A.B.C,and even on 10 it should do fairly well,given their history of producing quality aussie drama.
I couldn’t get into this series. Marta D over acted so badly that it was unintentionally funny is scenes that were supposed to be highly dramatic. And the storylines were pretty much a yawn fest. It just had no heart.
I only ever watched about 2 episodes, just couldn’t get into it. I agree re Brett Climo, he has no sex appeal whatsoever. A lead actor has to have a lot going for him, unfortunately he has very little. I found it very boring.
And I agree with Maev re the older demographic. I reckon we watch TV more than a lot of younger people, and we (mostly) have money to spend. Talk about age discrimination – nearly everything is skewed towards the younger viewer.
Crazy.
I think the reasons are financial. Series 1 is reputed to have cost $1.2 million/episode and would have received around 18% of that as the ATO’s Producer Rebate. It is very hard to justify a series at this budget unless it does incredible ratings. Seven can launch another show and save 300-350k plus per episode, get good ratings and easily meet its minimum drama quota points. Every couple of years they do this, with Always Greener a casualty not so many years ago.
The fact it seems they are stating that the ratings are the problem well that is a complete cop out. Look at consolidated ratings. They are significantly higher than what has been reported. They have actually been growing week after week and last week got to over 1.2m and they are what we see on final results for the year. Seven need to wake up and realise they have done the wrong thing. I doubt it will ever happen but i can only hope.
Where did they say ratings were the problem?
Very disappointed 🙁 Myself (27 year old by the way!) and my mother watch this together every week. It’s no wonder we end up watching so many British dramas instead….
@TasTVcameraman
The reason why networks like sport is because its a way for the networks to get live viewers to their channels. People like to watch sport live whereas other programs can be watched on delay. Its also a way for network to promote other programs. Watch any sporting program on any network and there is an abundance of adverts for upcoming shows. Channel 10’s decline partly stems from the lack of a major sport to get people watching therefore promoting their channel.
One could also make the argument that higher ratings for certain reality programs then drama programs could be another reason there is less drama around. I really like a good drama as well as sport. There needs to be a happy medium and I don’t think the answer is sending sport to foxtel.
Funnily enough, I was just discussing this program’s future with my partner the other night.
It has, at times, come perilously close to soap opera, saved only by very fine acting.
The women in the show are all progressive, free spirits, whilst the men are all dogmatic and stuck in the 50’s. (Apart from Noni).
We couldn’t really see where they might go with the storyline moving forward, and I suggested that Marta’s character might discover her dead ex is perhaps not dead etc, but we agreed it had very little room to move without becoming silly.
Right decision, I think.
@ Andrew Mercado. You are right they play it very safe, not very edgy or ground breaking. Even the reality castings often show the White Middle class society with minimal diversity.
The dramas are similar with their casting.
Typical of Seven. The show might not be rating as well, but they did put it up against a Reality juggernaut upon return.
As others have identified Seven have taken this action before (see others identify of those dramas).
I love the fact that they have enough drama points in production (so stuff viewers). I have already boycotted 9’s dramas due to shoddy scheduling and treatment, looks like 7 are heading down the same track.
To all Networks, Pick up your game and think of viewers, not just $. Loyalty counts for something (or it used to)
Abbey Earl reminds me of Jessica Marais a bit with her talent. Ive noticed she’s in LA now obviously looking at options. Its just a shame we will lose one of our up and coming talented actresses.
But 7 used to pride itself on australian drama. Now they only have winners and losers. I know they have home and away buts thats a soap.
It was interesting to learn about times back then and the history.
I hope stories get wrapped up. like will we see Anna and Gino marry, Anna finding out who were real father is and, Sarah and Geroge live happily ever after and I hope we see the baby being born.
Are we paying now for Seven’s huge financial stakes in the AFL coverage.
AFL fans get what they want and the AFL get what they want, how about the Networks saying to the AFL we will not pay these exorbitant costs.
I see that the players are after more next rights signing so we can expect more of this AFL nonsense and less of drama.
I would like to see the networks take a stand but it wont happen, because they are after ratings as well. But if they all refused to take football, and leave it Foxtel, it would solve Foxtel’s worries and convert a lot of people to pay TV, which again would hurt the networks!
It was probably cancelled because the ratings for this season have been down big time on the last.
Cost per episode would be enormous. Not enough to justify anything under 1.2 million.
Plus I think the show creators should be mindful of not pushing their own agendas and interests down the throats of their audiences… at some point the viewers will lose connection and the show dies.
Season 2 has been much better than its first, I’ve loved the flash forwards, flashbacks and the Nazi sex slave revelation. But there’s always been a problem with its casting – lots of good performances every week, with Craig Hall always the best, but Brett Climo has never had the gravitas to be the man of the house and Marta Dusseldorp’s lover and Noni Hazlehurst has been doing panto since week one.
It’s also possible that despite its admirable themes, the content has gotten too gay for Seven. Go back through their TV history, their dramas have never been groundbreaking or edgy and Home & Away is the only soap in the world today to have never had a regular gay character.
It skewed too old which doesn’t surprise me as it’s style of storytelling just isn’t what younger audiences look for anymore.
@deedeedragons – a mate who worked on it says there were 2 endings to the series filmed, so we can expect a resolution i guess