‘Beecham House’ could still return for Season 2 – but not on ITV

There’s potential good news for Beecham House fans!

ITV’s period drama series set on the cusp of the 19th century in India aired this summer in the UK.

It received mostly positive reviews, but it was recently announced by ITV that they hadn’t renewed Beecham House for a second season.

However, this isn’t necessarily the end of the story.

Beecham House will be shown in the US next March on Masterpiece on PBS.

If it’s a success with American audiences, there’s a chance the show could be picked up by another production partner.

ITV has confirmed: “…creator Gurinder Chadha is actively having conversations with international broadcasters with a view to the drama returning beyond series one.”

Speaking to the Express, Beecham House writer Gurinder Chadha said: “I think it’s one of those shows that had a massive following on catch up and some of our figures are incredibly high.”

Discussing its ratings performance in the UK, she explained: “I think on the Sunday night it went out, it went out at the same time as Love Island.

“So it was unfortunate. In a way, that’s the reality. TV is these days to be much more about reality shows and sporting events and drama has had to you have to look at catch up audiences in figures. I think we kinda of bore the brunt of that.”

Chadha added: “Also, I think for ITV, there’s this feeling that people in Britain are a bit tired of period dramas. Period dramas haven’t been faring as high as they used to.”

The Bend it Like Beckham writer is confident about how it’ll be received in the US next year though: “I think it’s going to do very, very well in the States.”

As for the possibility of a second season if the show goes down well with Masterpiece viewers, she hinted: “Let’s what happens in March in the US.”

Beecham House featured a cast of familiar faces from British period dramas, including Lesley Nicol (Downton Abbey), Tom Bateman (Vanity Fair), Dakota Blue Richards (Endeavour), Leo Suter (Victoria), Gregory Fitoussi (Mr Selfridge) and Bessie Carter (Les Miserables).

Lesley Nicol returned to the world of Downton Abbey as Mrs Patmore in the hit movie this autumn.

The Downton Abbey movie is available on DVD on Amazon.