ITV's Public Property axed

By Jessica Hodgson
guardian.co.uk, Monday February 26 2001 11.04 GMT

ITV has axed its answer to Big Brother, Public Property, after just five weeks.

The decision to put the show on the scrapheap was taken just half way through its run because it flopped in the ratings.

Presented by Kaye Adams, it was watched by just 1.5m viewers - a fraction of the audience of hit afternoon shows such as Countdown or The Weakest Link.

Public Property was the first show to cash on the sensational popularity of Channel 4's reality TV show Big Brother which made household names of contestants such as Nasty Nick.

Made by Anglia TV, it featured a selection of contestants of random ages, who were ordered to perform various tasks by a panel of audience members.

The contestants range from 20-something Rebecca and Carla through middle-aged Marvin to elderly Marcia, who were given tasks by the audience to change their lives.

But the series, which went out at teatime was panned by the critics.

The Mirror's Charlie Catchpole memorably said the show "makes watching paint dry seem as exciting as white water rafting".

An ITV spokeswoman confirmed that the show had had its run "shortened" to make way for the one of the two daily episodes of the reincarnated Crossroads.

She said: "Public Property was a completely innovative show - the first reality show to go out at tea time. It probably didn't really find its audience in the way we'd hoped it would."

But she said ITV wanted to "take a step backwards and think about where we're taking it."