Andrew Neil’s Sunday night political show has become the latest victim of Channel 4 cuts.
The veteran broadcaster moved to the channel last year following his departure from GB News and won praise for his self-titled weekly Sunday evening half-hour show.
However, The Guardian has learned that the show will not be returning this year and Neil and the broadcaster have yet to decide whether it will return in 2024.
There have been three series of The Andrew Neil Show so far, starting in May last year and finishing this April.
Channel 4 has canceled or stopped a number of programs recently due to a fall in advertising, which it relies on to generate money to commission programmes.
Victims include a reboot of reality series Four Weddings, hairdressing show The Big Blowout and Rescue: Extreme Medics. Channel 4 has also axed other programs in order to save money, including a planned daytime series of Kirstie Allsopp’s one-off festive special Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas.
However, with the general election looming next year, the loss of a political name as big as Neil’s will come as a blow to viewers, although politicians may be relieved not to have to face- se to his tenacious interviews.
Neil joined Channel 4 in 2022 after leaving his role as chairman and prime-time presenter on GB News the previous year amid differences of opinion over the direction of the channel.
He was the face of GB News when it launched, but later said he came close to having a breakdown while at the station, saying: “I would have killed to go on.”
He left after hosting just eight shows, reportedly due to concerns over technical issues and the network’s editorial position.
On joining Channel 4, Neil said he was “honoured and delighted” to take on the new role, explaining that “Sunday night is a key point in the political week – we can sweep away what happened the previous week, clean up what’s been in the newspapers and Sunday talk shows and move on to the week ahead.”
Before GB News, Neil hosted BBC This Week and other election and political programs and was also previously editor of the Sunday Times. He remains a key political figure as chairman and editor-in-chief of Press Holdings Media Group, the publisher of The Spectator and other titles.
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Neil’s agent, Jonathan Shalit, president of agency InterTalent, said: “Channel 4’s Andrew Neil Show will not be returning this year… although Andrew and Channel 4 have yet to decide whether to bring back the next year.”
Channel 4 and Neil’s producers ITN will hope his fortunes have recovered by then. Other British commercial broadcasters, including Channel 5 and ITV, have also been hit by the fall in advertising, which is partly driven by inflation and the cost of living crisis as advertisers squeeze the belt.
Executives at Channel 4, which was recently saved from privatisation, have deferred receiving bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to battle their financial constraints. He also ruled out a planned pay rise following anger from TV producers hit by the broadcaster’s cuts to program creation.
Channel 4 has been approached for comment.
