BBC scrapes the barrel as it fills Saturday night primetime slot with a REPEAT in latest schedule shake-up
THE BBC faces a viewer backlash after placing a REPEAT at the heart of its Saturday-night primetime TV schedule.
Flagship channel BBC One will be airing Scotland-set crime drama Annika for six weeks from Saturday.
The series will broadcast after Casualty at 9.15pm in the time slot previously filled by brand-new drama Magpie Murders.
But Annika already aired TWO YEARS AGO on Freeview channel Alibi.
Based on the Radio 4 drama Annika Stranded, it stars Nicola Walker as Norwegian-born Scottish Police detective Annika Strandhed, who’s brought in to head up Glasgow’s Marine Homicide Unit.
Her job is to solve murders in and around the water on the Scottish coast, but she also has a challenging home life with a teenager daughter.
Actress Nicola regulardly ‘breaks the fourth wall’ throughout the series, talking directly to the viewers like Phoebe Waller-Bridge does in Fleabag.
Annika gained positive reviews when it launched in 2021, with The Sun’s TV Mag calling it a show “with real heart”.
It averaged less than a million viewers but catch-up ratings helped to make it Alibi channel’s “top performing title of all time”.
A second series has been commissioned, with Nicola returning in the title role.
Nicola said: “We are all looking forward to fighting crime on sea and land with the MHU for a second series and there are secrets closer to home for Annika that will have to be faced. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!”
Annika airs from Saturday 20 May at 9.15pm on BBC One.