The much-loved comedy series Upstart Crow, starring David Mitchell as William Shakespeare, has been officially cancelled after three series.
Upstart Crow is a tale based on the life of William Shakespeare, genius, family man and highly-strung baldy-boots as he struggleth to be all at once a father, a husband, a commuter and the greatest literary genius of all time.
The show, written by Ben Elton and starring, David Mitchell, aired three series on BBC Two up until 2018 where it last broadcast with a Christmas special.
In a recent appearance on Lorraine, David Mitchell said he’d love there to be more episodes but the BBC were no longer committed to the programme.
Explaining why the show was cancelled, he shared: “At the moment we lack a broadcast partner. At the moment, no-one’s saying they’ll pay to make it so we can make some more.
“I’m not pointing the finger at the BBC, there are other broadcasters. They could all get in touch.”
A BBC spokesperson confirmed in a statement that it would not be recommissioning Upstart Crow for a fourth series.
David previously told The Independent that he and creator Ben Elton were keen to make another series.
He said: “I think Ben said from the start that he has enough ideas for four series.
“I did nine series of ‘Peep Show’, so I’m a believer that if you’ve got a good sitcom idea, you do loads of episodes of it.
“A sitcom premise that works is a rare thing, so don’t squander those opportunities.”
The show last aired with a one-off Christmas special in 2020.
Titled Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow: a Lockdown Christmas 1603, the two-hander episode saw David Mitchell reprise his role as the bard and Gemma Whelan as Kate.
A synopsis shares: “The plague has hit London and as Christmas approaches Will and Kate are in wave fifteen of state-enforced home confinement together in Will’s London lodgings. Will is doing his absolute best to use the plaguey lock-in to pen a classic for the new King so his head doesn’t end up in a basket.”
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