ITV Cancels Rob Lowe Series ‘Wild Bill’ After 1 Season
Rob Lowe will not be returning to Lincolnshire, as ITV opts not to renew the UK-based cop drama ‘Wild Bill‘.
The series saw Lowe star as high-flying US police chief Bill Hixon who arrives in Boston, Lincolnshire, with his 14-year-old daughter Kelsey in tow, as he hopes they can flee their painful recent past. As he uses his graphs, charts and algorithms to tackle the towns crime problem, he is not making any new friend amongst the East Lincolnshire Force. And the man who’s spent his life keeping the messiness of human intimacy at arm’s length is reluctantly propelled into frontline policing and forced to reconsider his relationship with those closest to him.
“We are immensely proud of Wild Bill and loved working with Rob Lowe and the production teams at 42, MultiStory Media and Anonymous Content,” commented ITV in a statement. “However, Wild Bill sadly won’t be returning for a second instalment. We are hugely grateful for the warm welcome we received whilst filming in Boston, Lincolnshire.”
It seems the decision not to renew the 6-episode series was based on the ITV viewing figures, which stood around 3.7 million, and the lack of a pick up by any US broadcaster. There may also have been an issue with Lowe’s availability moving forward, as he is now leading the cast of ‘9-1-1: Lone Star‘, the new “spin-off” series from the popular Ryan Murphy procedural.
Wild Bill was a co-production between 42 (‘Traitors’, ‘Watership Down’), Anonymous Content (’13 Reasons Why’, ‘Maniac’) and ITV Studios label, Shiver (‘Come Dine With Me’, ‘Piers Morgan’s Life Stories’). It was created by David Griffiths (‘The Hunted’, ‘Collateral Damage’), Kyle Killen (‘Halo’, ‘Awake’), Dudi Appleton & Jim Keeble (‘Silent Witness’, ‘Thorne: Sleepyhead & Scaredycat’), with Keeble and Appleton as lead writers and show-runners.
