BBC axes police drama Holby Blue

Richard Harrington, Tim Piggot Smith and Cal Macaninch all starred

The BBC has dropped Holby Blue, a spin-off programme to long-running medical series Holby City.

The police drama, which starred Footballers' Wives actress Zoe Lucker and former EastEnder Kacey Ainsworth, made its debut in May 2007.

The second series began with 5.6m viewers in March but by the end of May, the audience had dropped to 2.5m.

Holby Blue was written and co-produced by Tony Jordan, whose credits include Life on Mars, Hustle and EastEnders.

Despite the decline in ratings, the drama had "set new standards for 8 pm dramas in terms of production values, storytelling and casting", according to Claire Phillips from producer Red Planet.

And she said she hoped other shows made by her company would "live up to those high standards set out on Holby Blue".

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