The doctor is in

Two years ago, I blogged about ITV1 dropping a repeat run of Afterlife after one episode, and quoted Broadcast‘s William Phillips – one of the most perceptive writers about television there’s ever been – to say that drama repeats don’t work.

Well, maybe self-contained crime dramas can be repeated – and Midsomer Murders producer Brian True-May recently complained about ITV repeating his show too often – but I still can’t think of one repeat of a drama serial that has proven at all popular. Big series like Cold Feet and even Pride and Prejudice both did next to nothing in prime time repeat runs.

Tonight, ITV1 begins a repeat run of Doc Martin from 2006. Sure, it’s a popular series, but who wants to see it again? It’s not even the last series, thus making it even less appealing because even if you’ve come in late, you’ll know everything that’s going to happen. That’s why I’m willing to predict that this series will be dropped long before it finishes the end of its run in eight weeks, and when (not if) it does, I’ll come back here to remind ITV1 what a stupid idea it is.

And no, I’m not just saying this for the obvious post title when it goes.