ITV viewers have shared their heartbreak after one of the channel’s beloved detective series was brutally axed.  

McDonald & Dodds premiered back in March 2020 and has gone to have four successful series.  

The crime drama’s latest season wrapped up in August 2024. 

Fans are gutted that Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins won’t be returning to our screens as DCI Lauren McDonald and DS Dodds in the future. 

According to RadioTimes, the decision boils down to how many people tuned in to watch the last series.  

The publication reported that an ITV spokesperson ‘confirmed the news after ratings for the final series didn’t meet the threshold for a recommission’. 

TV viewers are gutted that ITV has brutally axed McDonald & Dodds – despite the rave reviews and cliffhanger ending

Tala Gouveia and Jason Watkins starred in the popular ITV drama 

Many have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share how gutted they are. 

One wrote on the social media platform: ‘I’m so upset ITV have cancelled. McDonald&Dodds. There’s so much garbage clogging up terrestrial TV and a really good detective series with a fantastic odd couple gets canned for declining ratings on an ad-dependent channel. Sigh.’ 

Another added: ‘So sad about this! SUCH a great series! No more.’

A third tweeted: ‘McDonald and Dodds cancelled? Ah no what a shame.’

While a fourth said: ‘Oh no!! Hope this isn’t true I love #mcdonaldanddodds.’

Another fumed: ‘I swear to god all the great shows are being cancelled in 2025 and we are only 16 days in!

A sixth said: ‘That’s a shame. I really enjoyed it – and the locations in and around Bath were lovely.’

‘A poor decision by @itv on top of Brenda Blethyn quitting Vera, to axe #McDonaldAndDodds. They need a good detective series that’s easy to watch, done in one episode, and not thoroughly dark and depressing like so many of them,’ a seventh wrote.   

Fans couldn’t believe the news after it broke and took to Twitter to share their heartbreak 

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Another chimed in: ‘I’m truly gutted I’m so angry at for cancelling this. #McdonaldAndDodds.’

The show follows DCI Lauren McDonald and DS Dodds team up to solve crime in Bath. 

And at the end of series four, Lauren was proposed to by her boyfriend – and fans won’t find out what happens next. 

After its premiere in 2020, a second followed in 2021, then another in 2022. 

There are plenty of well-known faces as part of the cast.

Some of those include James Murray, Claire Skinner, Jack Riddiford, Pearl Canda and Lily Sacofsky.    

This isn’t the first ITV programme that has been axed recently.

Back in April 2024, the channel announced that the drama Vera was not returning after 14 years. 13336515

McDonald & Dodds is available to watch on ITVX.