{"id":29527,"date":"2025-07-28T20:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T20:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/29527\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T20:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T20:59:07","slug":"gritty-bbc-drama-axed-after-just-one-season-following-viewers-complaints-about-the-sex-drugs-and-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/29527\/","title":{"rendered":"Gritty BBC drama axed after just one season following viewers’ complaints about the sex, drugs and violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

A racy and ambitious BBC<\/a> drama has been axed after just one booze-filled season – following complaints from viewers about on-screen sex, violence and drugs.<\/p>\n

Dope Girls was the Saturday night drama that filled the BBC One slot previously occupied by Peaky Blinders<\/a> – the similarly gritty thriller starring Oscar winner Cillian Murphy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the show failed to fill those big boots, having received a lukewarm response from viewers and critics alike.<\/p>\n

While some praised the its high energy, ambition and flair for entertainment, others felt it was punching above its weight, and it was dismissed as messy and chaotic.<\/p>\n

The criminal underworld drama dives into London<\/a> at the end of the First World War<\/a> and follows a group of women as they tackle the country’s new era and use ‘Soho’s expanding illicit underground clubland scene as their playground,’ according to the synopsis.<\/p>\n

It explores the introduction of modern nightlife, ‘guided and gilded by hard-fought female endeavour’.<\/p>\n

\"BBC <\/p>\n

BBC drama Dope Girls has been axed after just one booze-filled season – following complaints from viewers about on-screen sex, violence and drugs (pictured: Samson Ajewole and Umi Myers)\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the drama will not be returning for another installment. A TV insider told The Sun<\/a>: ‘There was quite a lot of shock among viewers about the content of the show, and critics weren’t exactly glowing either.<\/p>\n

‘Despite that the writers of the drama had left a few storyline strands untied which could have easily led onto a second season..’<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the show said on Monday: ‘Dope Girls was a bold and groundbreaking series – which we are very proud of – but we can confirm that it will not return.’<\/p>\n

Starring Julianne Nicholson as the main character, Kate Galloway, other cast members include Eliza Scanlen as Violet Davies and Umi Myers as Billie Cassidy.<\/p>\n

At the time of its release, BBC viewers blasted the historic drama as ‘a load of drivel’ and some even abandoned it after just one episode.<\/p>\n

They wrote on X: ‘Thoroughly confusing.’; ‘How on Earth did this make it on to primetime BBC1 on a Saturday night.’;<\/p>\n

‘Managed 32 minutes of this new drama then called it a day. The new female Peaky Blinders it’s not. Poor lighting, weird camera angles, messy. I tried, but not for me.’;<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The criminal underworld drama dives into London at the end of the First World War and follows a group of women as they tackle the country’s new era (pictured\u00a0Eliza Scanlen)\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘What a lot of abysmal rubbish. Switched over to Netflix.’;<\/p>\n

‘Not at all sure what I just watched. Was I meant to make sense of or understand what was going on?’;<\/p>\n

‘Sat through the whole lot but I’ve no idea why. In fact I’d be hard pressed to tell you what this gloomy, impossibly shot, totally confusing tripe is about. And I couldn’t be bothered anyway.’;<\/p>\n

‘Safe to say I won’t be watching any more of that season’;<\/p>\n

‘What a load of drivel.’<\/p>\n

However, some viewers did seem to enjoy the news series, and one took to social media and penned: ‘It started a bit all over the place, but it’s well worth a watch, I’ve binged them all this weekend and it was enjoyable – not the best of BBC dramas, but worth watching.’;<\/p>\n

‘Absolutely fabulous. I loved everything about it. The strong performances, the filming, the atmosphere. You might guess, I loved it. Looking forward to the next episodes.’<\/p>\n

\u00a0It comes as another\u00a0gripping BBC drama could be ‘set to make huge return’, according to reports, one year after the series ended with a big twist.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The drama received mixed reviews online, with some viewers saying they found the plot ‘confusing’ (pictured: Kate Galloway)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Six-part drama Rebus, starring Outlander’s Richard Rankin as the titular character, aired in May last year but there had been no news of a second series until now.<\/p>\n

It was a modern update of the hugely popular ITV adaptations, that first hit screens in 2000, starring John Hannah and Ken Stott.<\/p>\n

The BBC1 series is billed as a ‘reimagining’ followed the policeman’s exploits in his younger days.<\/p>\n

A TV insider told The Sun: ‘Even though the first series did well in the ratings, the fact there was no update on a follow-up had a few devotees wondering if it would happen.<\/p>\n

‘After all, these days channels and streamers often announce a second outing before the first has finished airing. No news felt like bad news.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A racy and ambitious BBC drama has been axed after just one booze-filled season – following complaints from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[97,96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-29527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-tv","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}