EXCLUSIVE: Kirstie Allsopp’s popular daytime series Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas is being rested for a year as part of Channel 4’s efforts to cut costs amid a chastening ad market slump.
Deadline understands that Channel 4’s content chief Ian Katz personally phoned Allsopp to deliver the news last Thursday. He made an explicit reference to the UK broadcaster’s financial difficulties after its ad revenue plummeted by as much as 20%.
We revealed on Monday how Channel 4 is canceling shows at the eleventh hour, asking suppliers to finance productions at short notice, tasking them with rethinking budgets mid-shoot, and pushing projects into 2024 because it can’t afford to pick up the bill.
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First screened in 2014, Handmade Christmas was not formally greenlit for another season by Channel 4, but early preparations were underway, including tentative guest bookings. The show is produced by Glasgow-based company Raise The Roof Productions.
Allsopp, one of Channel 4’s highest-profile and most enduring presenters, confirmed that the daytime series will not be made this year, but a primetime version of the show will air.
“I know it’s not personal,” she told Deadline. “We all take a hit on different things at different points in time. Hopefully, the ad market will improve and we’ll be back again.”
Allsopp estimated that up to 30 production crew would lose work as a result of the decision, adding to existing woes for freelancers who are in the throes of what broadcasting union Bectu has described as an “emergency” for unscripted television.
“I am very upset for anybody — not just my colleagues, not just the lovely people that I work with — but anybody in the industry who is struggling for work. I know there are quite a few,” she said.
Khalid Hayat, Channel 4’s Director of Strategy, told a committee of lawmakers on Tuesday that cost-cutting had caused “pain” for some producers, but the broadcaster was confident that financial pressures would only be a short-term phenomenon.
“Our priority throughout this period is to preserve shows as much as we can, to minimize any disruption or cancellations to commissioning and any decisions that we make are about ensuring the sustainability and delivering the sustainability of Channel 4’s remit delivery,” he said.
Allsopp revealed that she and Phil Spencer, her regular presenting partner, signed a new two-year deal with Channel 4 in March. The presenters have been a fixture on Channel 4 for 23 years, hosting property series Location, Location, Location and Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It.
A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: “The primetime show, Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas will air later this year as planned.”
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