A popular murder mystery show has been brutally axed after just one series on screens. 

Shardlake, starring Arthur Hughes and Sean Bean, has had the plug pulled on a potantial second series despite a string of rave reviews.

In a statement to Variety, a Disney spokesperson confirmed the news and said: ‘Disney+ Original series, Shardlake, will not be returning for a second season on the service. 

‘We’d like to thank Stephen Butchard who adapted the late C.J. Sansom’s beloved novel for the screen, the entire cast – led by the outstanding Arthur Hughes – and crew, and our production partners The Forge and Runaway Fridge. 

‘We hope to work with all of our partners across these shows again in the future.’

Anthony Boyle, who played Jack Barak, also announced the news on Instagram, writing: ‘Sadly Shardlake won’t be coming back from another season. Thanks for all the love and support on it. First season still on Disney Plus UK.’

A popular murder mystery has been brutally axed after one series

Shardlake, starring Arthur Hughes and Sean Bean, is set to have the plug pulled despite a string of rave reviews

Shardlake is based on the series of novels by CJ Sansom and the four-part murder mystery was set during the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century.

It blends the real with the imaginary as fictional lawyer-cum-detective Matthew Shardlake (Hughes) investigates a suspicious death on the orders of Thomas Cromwell (Bean), Henry’s real-life right-hand man. 

Adapted by Stephen Butchard, who also wrote The Last Kingdom, the series is set at the time when Henry broken from Rome and ordered the closure of England’s monasteries. 

History buff Bean, 65, was lured to the role of Cromwell having already read the books. ‘I’ve always been interested in the medieval and Tudor eras and history in general,’ he explains.

‘I read the books 14 years ago, so when this came up I was obviously very interested.

‘Cromwell is such a great character and held so much power. He was intelligent but cunning, pitting people against each other.

‘He had many facets, so he wasn’t just a bad person – although he’s not very nice in this. But that was the attraction, there’s so much to delve into.’

Shardlake is based on the series of novels by CJ Sansom and the four-part murder mystery was set during the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century

It blends the real with the imaginary as fictional lawyer-cum-detective Matthew Shardlake (Hughes) investigates a suspicious death on the orders of Thomas Cromwell (Bean), Henry’s real-life right-hand man

In the show, Cromwell asks Shardlake to look into the murder of one of the king’s emissaries who’d been sent to a monastery in the fictional town of Scarnsea to close it down.

The тιтle role was a star-making part for Hughes, 33, who appeared in Netflix’s The Innocents and has played Richard III with the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

Now, having landed a leading role in a big-budget drama, he’s blazing a trail for disabled actors.

Arthur has a condition called radial dysplasia, which affects his right arm, while in the show Shardlake is disabled by scoliosis, a curvature of the spine that results in him being called ‘hunchback’.

‘When we have a disabled actor in a leading role, it’s huge,’ says Hughes. ‘I think it’s taking steps towards a point where there’s not such a big hoo-ha about it.

‘And that’s where we want to be, where we just see disabled actors in great roles regardless of whether the role’s disabled or not.’

He explains that Shardlake suffers prejudice due to his disability. ‘It makes him visibly different and he can suffer because of that, but he’s successful at what he does,’ says Hughes. ‘That’s why Cromwell holds him close as a useful ᴀsset.’

Shardlake is joined by Jack Barak (Masters Of The Air’s Anthony Boyle), a Cromwell henchman whose frosty relationship with Shardlake thaws into friendship after the pair face hostility at the monastery.

Adapted by Stephen Butchard, who also wrote The Last Kingdom, the series is set at the time when Henry broken from Rome and ordered the closure of England’s monasteries

‘Cromwell sends Shardlake off to investigate the murder but sends Barak to make sure he does it right,’ says Boyle, 29. ‘The guy is very cocky. They’re the direct anтιтhesis of each other – a Tudor odd couple.’

Read More Meet the Tudor Morse: A whip-smart lawyer teams up with Sean Bean’s Thomas Cromwell to solve a murder in gripping historical thriller Shardlake

A strong supporting cast play the monastery’s inhabitants, with Rogue One’s Babou Ceesay as the abbot who appears to be covering up the crime, and The Stranger’s Paul Kaye as the apparently mad Brother Jerome. Spooks’ Peter Firth is Cromwell’s adversary the Duke of Norfolk.

Interestingly, all the show’s atmospheric Tudor backdrops were filmed in central Europe. Locations included Romania, Hungary and Austria, and the monastery was an amalgam of Hunedoara Castle in Transylvania and Kreuzenstein Castle outside Vienna.

But the actors nearly froze on the winter shoot, recalled Hughes. ‘Some days in Vienna it was -8C. Kreuzenstein Castle was on top of this big hill, and it was biting cold.’ Fortunately during their four months in Budapest the cast bonded over Hungarian dinners of chicken paprikash and palinka, a fruit brandy.

Shardlake, dubbed ‘The Tudor Morse’, is an outsider who’s whip-smart but also endearing, and although it takes place half a millennium ago, the show’s themes are ageless.

‘Even though it’s set in the 16th century the methods and means of a murder mystery haven’t changed that much,’ said Bean. ‘Shardlake will take you on a journey that’s entertaining as well as historically interesting.’