Sci-fi and fantasy is a tricky genre to tackle. I mean, it’s very difficult to get it right. For every half decent episode of Star Trek, you’ve got ten lame episodes of Stargate SG1 or Moonbase 3. Problem is that they’re so very, very expensive to make… and it’s that reason that sci-squib, Primeval is being cancelled by ITV. “After three very successful series of Primeval there are no plans at the present time for it to return to ITV. High-quality drama remains a key part of the ITV schedule although our current focus is on post-watershed productions,” an ITV spokesman said. Hmmm. High quality drama you say? When I see some evidence of that, I’ll buy that argument. Anyway, the show had a glimmer of hope in recent weeks, but this is certainly the death knell.

Related: Our Primeval section

Impossible Pictures, who make the show, apparently offered to effectively split the cost of making Primeval with ITV, which could’ve seen it continue. Money would have been raised by offering the show to, it appears, the Sci-Fi Channel first, and then allowing ITV to air it later as a terrestrial premiere.

This idea has been nixed by ITV and now, stars Ben Miller and the former S Clubber Hannah Spearritt will no longer portray scientists investigating CGI creatures that enter the modern world through worm holes… and all that.

Thanks to a sharp fall in advertising revenues, ITV has needed to find way of cutting the budget and this show, with it’s high CGI costs and big-ass sets, is an obvious candidate to go. The last series attracted nearly 6 million viewers, which is larger than most new shows that ITV air. Even though I don’t care much for This Sort Of Thing, it almost seems a shame that it’s been given the boot.