Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The Circle: Channel 4 fails to renew reality TV show after three series

Reality TV show will not return for fourth series

Isobel Lewis
Friday 07 May 2021 07:40 EDT
Comments
The Circle: season 2 trailer

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Circle will not be returning for a fourth series on Channel 4, it has been announced.

The reality TV show first aired in 2018 and has run for three series on the UK broadcaster, with the most recent episodes coming to an end in April.

However on Friday (7 May), Channel 4 announced to RadioTimes.com that The Circle was not being renewed.

The Circle has been a huge hit for young audiences and has grown successively over three seasons on Channel 4, consistently outperforming slot averages,” a statement read, describing the show as “innovative”.

“In much the same way as when we originally commissioned The Circle, Channel 4 has a responsibility to continually look at how we reinvent and create space for new ideas, and so we have decided not to commission the show for a fourth season. We’d like to thank Studio Lambert, Motion and all those involved for The Circle’s huge success over the last three series.”

The reality TV series follows a group of contestants living in self-contained flats in the same building in Salford.

They can only communicate through The Circle, an internal social media platform, with players having the opportunity to take part as themselves or play as a catfish by using another person’s photos.

The player voted most popular by their other players at the end of the series wins £100,000. Series three was won by Natalya Platonova, who played the game pretending to be a man called Felix.

The show has also spawned a popular US version on Netflix, which concluded its second season this week.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in