Life Force Farce Continues

by Dominic May, TV Zone, April 2000

Since last issue, ITV's broadcast of Life Force has continued to languish on Sunday mornings winning around 1.2 million viewers compared with its previous consolidated total of 2.7m, when the show was also shown on Monday afternoons. Speaking about the decision series creator Peter Tabern was especially upset to see Life Force's Monday outing replaced by Sabrina The Teenage Witch. "This is typical of the timidness of broadcasters. The only drama we seem to be able to realize is bland imports from the USA and copies." He hit out at ITV controller of children's drama, Nigel Pickard, who made the scheduling change, saying, "He knew what he was expecting, which is why we agreed this two-scheduling strategy -- to try to win viewers on Sunday, and for the audience to grow through word of mouth on the Monday afternoon." ITV spokesperson Nicola Howson countered commenting, "What Peter Tabern says is a rather simplistic view of matters. The main reason we decided to move Life Force was that we found it was not being as effective as it should be showing on Sunday mornings and on Monday."