Fern Britton's chat show axed by Channel 4

Fern Britton's chat show 'Fern' has been axed by Channel 4.

The former 'This Morning' host - who launched the series at the end of March - will not see her talk show returning to screens "in the current form".

According to Digital Spy, Channel 4 creative officer Jay Hunt has confirmed in the broadcaster's annual report that 'Fern' will not be commissioned for a second series.

However, he did reveal channel executives are currently in the process of discussing new formats for the show - which filled the slot previously taken up by Paul O'Grady's chat series after he departed the channel for ITV - and are keen to continue working with Fern in the future.

With viewing figures averaging at 970,000 viewers per episode, just short of the projected one million, Channel 4 insiders recently revealed 'Fern' was in "jeopardy" after not being as successful as initially hoped.

A source said: "It's fair to say the show is in jeopardy. The figures are relatively low - they are certainly not as high as we'd hoped. But it's early days. We'll get to the end of the four-week trial and decide what's best for the channel and the show.

"Everyone here thinks Fern is brilliant so we can't understand why more of her loyal fans aren't watching. The good weather at the moment probably isn't helping."

Fern beat off stiff competition from the likes of Peter Andre, Vernon Kay and Denise Van Outen to land the hour-long slot.