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.
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.
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