Channel 4 cuts Banged Up from lineup

Banged Up has become the latest show to face the axe at Channel 4.

Last year, it was revealed that the show chiefs were planning a sequel to the prison series, with talks of setting it in a women’s jail featuring female celebrities.

However, it has now been decided that the Bafta-nominated programme will not be returning.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “Banged Up was a unique one-off social experiment that was only commissioned for one series.”

Series one of the four-part documentary series, which first aired in October 2023, followed a group of male celebrities as they swapped their normal lives for a stint at the decommissioned Shrewsbury Prison.

The participants were confined for eight days, during which they were kept in cells, assigned tasks, and subjected to body searches. They were supervised by real former prison guards and ex-criminals.

Among the notable participants in season one were EastEnders actor Sid Owen, Gogglebox star Marcus Luther, and author Peter Hitchens.

Other celebrities included ex-MP Neil Parish, comedian and actor Tom Rosenthal, and former Strictly Come Dancing star HRVY.

The celebs got to question their cellmates about their experiences of being incarcerated and to examine the impact their jail time had on them.

The experiment was run by a former prison governor with 20 years of experience at some of the UK’s most notorious prisons. All participants lived according to current UK prison rules.

Sid Owen described the experience as “pretty harrowing”, admitting to breaking down several times during the filming.

The show was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Reality, although it lost out to Netflix‘s Squid Game.