{"id":20904,"date":"2022-08-25T18:20:09","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T16:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1698780"},"modified":"2022-08-25T18:51:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T16:51:10","slug":"channel-5-boss-kept-jay-blades-series-on-the-shelf-feared-it-would-die-a-death","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/channel-5-boss-kept-jay-blades-series-on-the-shelf-feared-it-would-die-a-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Channel 5 boss kept Jay Blades series \u201con the shelf\u201d, feared it would \u201cdie a death\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By James Hibbs\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 25 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Jay Blades: No Place Like Home aired on Channel 5 earlier this year, proving popular with viewers and gaining a recommission for a second season.<\/p>\n

However, Channel 5\u2019s controller Ben Frow has now revealed that the show\u2019s first season, which aired in May this year, had sat \u201con the shelf\u201d for months, as Frow feared it wouldn\u2019t be able to stand up to competition from other broadcasters.<\/p>\n

Frow was speaking at a panel focused on scheduling at this year\u2019s Edinburgh TV Festival, where he said of the show: \u201cIt was a lovely series, beautifully made. It\u2019s wonderful to have Jay Blades on the channel, but it was soft history, very BBC Two, and I kept it on the shelf for a few months\u201d.<\/p>\n

Frow said he was \u201cdreading the call from Jay Blades going, \u2018When\u2019s this bloody programme going out?’\u201d, but kept thinking that \u201cit\u2019s going to die a death, it\u2019s not going to be able to stand up\u201d to the competition.<\/p>\n

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Jay Blades attends an event for No Place Like Home<\/span><\/figcaption> Shane Anthony Sinclair\/Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Frow continued: \u201cThen this week appeared [in the schedules] when you looked at the competition and you went, \u2018There is nothing for that older, intelligent audience who might like a bit of soft history. Now\u2019s the time to launch Jay Blades.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put him into the schedule, it does over a million and that three-part series has now become an ongoing series. So timing is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three-part documentary series Jay Blades: No Place Like Home<\/a> saw Blades return to his childhood neighbourhood of Hackney, in order to discover its history and relive his own past.<\/p>

Season 10 of Blade\u2019s BBC show The Repair Shop<\/a> began earlier this year, and new episodes are airing Wednesdays at 8pm on BBC One.<\/p>\n

Read more coverage from the Edinburgh International TV Festival 2022:<\/strong><\/p>\n