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Ideal has dealt it's last.

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Steve Saul | 15:48 UK time, Thursday, 4 August 2011

Johnny Vegas

Sadly, the news is true. Ideal won't be returning to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three...

We've noticed a lot of comments about the cancellation of Ideal on and and totally acknowledge and respect the reactions of show's loyal and passionate fans.

Zai Bennett (Controller of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three) praised the Ideal team and explained his decision:

"I'd like to thank Baby Cow, writer Graham Duff and Johnny for seven superb series of Ideal on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three. The channel is very much about new comedy and we have to try to make sure we have the room to give new writers and stars the same chance that Ideal had six years ago."

Cheryl Taylor (´óÏó´«Ã½ Controller of ÌýComedy Commissioning) also paid tribute to the Ideal team.

"Ideal has become a much loved fixture on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three and we are extremely grateful to Graham Duff for his highly original and engaging scripts. Johnny Vegas for his wonderful Moz and the host of iconic characters who have helped to people this unique Comedy landscape for all these years".

The clip below is one of our favourite moments from Ideal, what are yours? Tell us in the comments below, on or via the medium of .

View the full blog post to access video content. In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit ´óÏó´«Ã½ Webwise for full instructions

Read more about the cancellation of Ideal on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ News site.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    What a stupid & thankless decision, to cut off a series this good, when it ended on a cliff-hanger. Fix this ´óÏó´«Ã½, if ´óÏó´«Ã½ 3 are halfwits, let a channel that can do joined up thinking take it on. Sign the petition folks!

  • Comment number 2.

    In the last 4 years i am able to say the new Comedy that has been produced has been rubbish. Somebody has made comedy that works very well, has lasted Seven Series & Has the most obscure "who's at the door" scenes ever.
    There is no, "we'll see which is better NEW Comedy Or OLD comedy" if you get rid of all OLD comedy to find out the New comedy is boring, with no potential or depth...!
    Give your donkey a run in the race but please don't leave the stead in the stable. It's not too late.

  • Comment number 3.

    My favourite Moment has to be Judith & Marco's Affair. Followed by the repercussions to Marco & Jake. :)

  • Comment number 4.

    Terrible, ill-considered decision, Ideal is an excellent and genuinely funny programme, unlike the majority of the so-called comedy output of ´óÏó´«Ã½3. And in your headline it should be "its" not "it's" ....

  • Comment number 5.

    Err, sorry mate good enough. ´óÏó´«Ã½3 doesn't deserve Ideal anyway if this is how you're gonna act with such gold. Sort it out Zai Bennett and get Ideal back before it's too late! You don't know what you've got till it's gone. Everyone please sign the petition to bring Ideal back:

  • Comment number 6.

    this is an utterly abysmal decision by Zai Bennett and ´óÏó´«Ã½ 3. i can understand ´óÏó´«Ã½ axing a show that is on a downward trend in order to make room for newer comedy to be given a chance (such as was the case with two pints). however when a show is pulling in its biggest audiences ever, it makes little/no sense. theres plenty of room for newer comedy, whilst still producing shows that draw an audience. admittedly you can go too far with it (take the simpsons as an example). however i do believe that given the right opportunity, graham duff would be able to call time on the series in an orderly fashion, tying up all loose ends. now we can only hope for the "family guy" tradition of being brought back by stellar DVD sales.

  • Comment number 7.

    I'm sad to hear the news of ideal being cancelled, I was a huge fan of the series and the show never failed to cheer me up and make me laugh.
    To think ´óÏó´«Ã½ is canceling what is such a popular and we loved show, both here in the U.K and overseas is a ver poor decision! I feel the ´óÏó´«Ã½ should reconsider their choice, yes it's good to allow new comedy to shine, but why kill one of the most well loved shows that gets a high number of views each week it's on? I for one hope the ´óÏó´«Ã½ reconsider,
    If not I will boycot the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and all of their Programming.

  • Comment number 8.

    relied on ideal to make me laugh and loved the stories and how things always intertwine, loved Jenny in any scene. also Mark E smiths appearance as god.
    Brian's isn't he scrummy line everytime with new bloke is total class. i think it is obviously too good for the beeb and hope baby cow find someone to commission it's continuation.

  • Comment number 9.

    Since its such a well loved show but you need space for other shows on ´óÏó´«Ã½3, why can't you move it to ´óÏó´«Ã½2???....

  • Comment number 10.

    so really, they should be canning TopGear as well then

  • Comment number 11.

    Typical of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to kill a successful programme. Funnily enough when they axed Lark Rise To Candleford they gave the same excuse of wanting to allow new material through. This is a lame, lazy excuse.

    Ideal is a unique show which could run and run without losing any originality. I can't see it being allowed to move to ´óÏó´«Ã½ 2 because maybe a comedy about a drug dealer is too niche for this channel. which means it may only have a place on ´óÏó´«Ã½ 3. Surely it would be beneficial to have a flagship show which brings more viewers to a channel that (I think) has been threatened with the axe itself because it wasn't watched enough? Or don't the ´óÏó´«Ã½ actually want viewers?

  • Comment number 12.

    Wow. What an insensitive post: we've just canned a show, so what was your favourite moment?

    Instead of answering that question, though, I'd like to ask some of my own:

    - Why did ´óÏó´«Ã½3 decide to axe a show that had hit its highest audience?
    - Why did ´óÏó´«Ã½3 kill a show that was more critically acclaimed than ever?
    - Why did ´óÏó´«Ã½3 scrap a show that was increasing its international reach?
    - Why, despite arguing for a 'clean sweep' have Bennett-commissioned series survived the cull? Is this yet another case of a new controller simply removing series (s)he didn't originally commission, regardless of quality?
    - Why was Duff not informed of this move before series 7, which would have enabled Ideal to have closure, rather than end on a cliffhanger (or, more accurately, several cliffhangers)?
    - Why will the ´óÏó´«Ã½ not commission another six-part series, stating _that_ will be the last, to enable the series to end properly (and show ´óÏó´«Ã½3 has some respect for its creations and creators)?
    - Why has ´óÏó´«Ã½3 canned its most innovative comedy, while retaining run-of-the-mill shows, such as White Van Man?
    - What does a show have to do on ´óÏó´«Ã½3, in order to guarantee longevity?

    The last of those questions is hugely important. In its last series, Ideal had ramped up the guest stars, added more intrigue, darkness and innovation to its scripts, increased its audience and upped its production values. Presumably, then, no show on ´óÏó´«Ã½3 has any chance whatsoever of survival, regardless of quality, and so the final question really should be:

    - Why even bother, if you're going to just discard much-loved, exceptional shows, when they are at their peak?

  • Comment number 13.

    I think it's pathetic of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to cancel a successful and well loved show without even allowing a special or final season to wrap up the plot lines! What's the point in watching programmes on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ - it's like reading a book, getting half way through and discovering the end is missing! And for what reason? "Need more room." Well how about less US imports? Less repeats of other shows which have already aired on ´óÏó´«Ã½ 1 and 2 - we have iPlayer now, we don't need repeats! No, the real reason for canning Ideal is because it has a large cast and probably costs more to produce. It's nothing about "room" - more likely a new show with a young cast will be so desperate they'll work for less and the show would be cheaper to make. I'm absolutely furious with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ for doing this - at the very least they should have warned the writers so they had the time to end the series probably and not leave the viewers with an unresolved cliffhanger. And the ´óÏó´«Ã½ could at least be honest with their reasoning.

    Disgusting. I shan't be returning to watch ´óÏó´«Ã½ 3.

  • Comment number 14.

    Replacing Ideal with such complete and utter dross as the likes of 'gary tank commander' is pretty hard to swallow. Whilst I appreciate ´óÏó´«Ã½3 is about new comedy and a testing ground surely one of the tests before showing is that a comedy has at least some hope of producing a laugh?

  • Comment number 15.

    send in psycho paul or the red mist to change there minds!

  • Comment number 16.

    What is wrong with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ if they are getting rid of something as good as Ideal?

    When I look at how bad and poorly made many of the other shows on ´óÏó´«Ã½ 3 are, I've got to ask by what criteria was Zai Bennet hired?

  • Comment number 17.

    The only reason its been cancelled is so that the new ´óÏó´«Ã½ owners can make a name for themselves.And they know whatever rubbish they produce wont be able to compete with Ideal.Plus its got drug use in...pathetic decision!!!

  • Comment number 18.

    Ideal has been one of the few consistently good and imaginative programs that I have followed on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in recent years. It really does deserve a new series or if it must finish then at least give it a proper ending.

  • Comment number 19.

    Only just found out - iDeal was one of the only decent things on ´óÏó´«Ã½ 3, the rest of it filled with stuff like 2 pints - how pointless.

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