ITV cancel popular series The Larkins which starred The Chase host Bradley Walsh

The Larkins ran on ITV for three series but the broadcaster has now confirmed it won’t be returning for a fourth. The Larkins is a spin-off series from The Darling Buds of May, which ended in 1993.

The Larkins first hit screens in 2021 and followed the adventures of the Larkin family in the Kent countryside. The series is an adaptation of the classic Darling Buds of May novels, by H. E. Bates.

In the series, Bradley Walsh starred as Pop Larkin, the head of the Larkin family. Appearing on ITV’s This Morning, TV host Bradley dismissed the idea that the show had been cancelled due to tensions on set and instead insisted it was because he had no time in his schedule for filming.

Speaking to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, he explained: "The viewing figures were absolutely fine, there was nothing wrong with the viewing figures.

“They were fantastic. They actually, in comparison to the first series, all went well.”

It’s a 14-week shoot and I haven’t got time to do that this year. I actually don’t have 14 weeks, so it’s down to me, not anything else, that we may not be able [to do it].”

The original series, The Darling Buds of May, starred David Jason, Pam Ferris and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was deemed to be Catherine Zeta-Jones’ big break for television before her fame sky-rocketed with films such as The Mask of Zorro, Entrapment and The Haunting.