BBC axes Jessica Hynes comedy Up The Women

Yes, RadioTimes.com can reveal that Jessica Hynes' suffragette sitcom will not be back for a third series.

"After two great series, sadly there won't be any more Up The Women on BBC2 as the channel looks to bring new comedy shows through,” said a BBC spokesman. “Huge thanks to the incredibly talented Jessica Hynes, and all involved in the making of the show.”

Hynes played gung-ho leader Margaret in the comedy while Rebecca Front took on the role of stubborn Helen, a woman who is actually opposed to women getting the vote.

The comedy also starred Vicki Pepperdine, Adrian Scarborough and Judy Parfitt.

Parfitt, a star of the 1974 suffragette drama Shoulder to Shoulder, played the mother of Helen in the comedy, a mischievous aristocrat called Myrtle.

Morwenna Banks and Barunka O'Shaughnessy wrote the comedy alongside Hynes who spoke of the series having "a deliberately retro-sitcom feel".

Up the Women transferred to BBC2 from BBC4 after the first series with the second tranche airing at the beginning of this year.

It has the distinction of being the last sitcom filmed before a live television audience at BBC’s Television Centre building in Shepherd’s Bush.

READ MORE

Jessica Hynes on Up The Women