TV & Radio

No more Fleabag: There will not be a third series

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s BBC hit bows out after two runs with ‘beautiful, perfect ending’

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Andrew Scott in Fleabag. Photograph: Luke Varley/Two Brothers/BBC

Jim Waterson
Fri Apr 5 2019 - 11:39

Fleabag, the hit BBC series created by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, will not have a third series, although fans obsessing over what will happen between the lead character and a priest played by Andrew Scott have been promised a "beautiful, perfect ending" to the show.

Monday’s episode will conclude the show’s run after just two series of six episodes each, with the staff and crew choosing to bow out on a high rather than extend the programme’s run further.

“There will not be a third series,” says Sian Clifford, who plays Claire, the sister of Waller-Bridge’s anonymous lead character. “This is it. I think I’ve described it online as this beautiful, perfect ending, and I think it is.”

Clifford told BBC Breakfast that fans would accept the decision when they see the final episode. “I think what it’s closer to is poetry. I think people will accept that this is the end when they see it, because it is complete.”

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The first series of the BBC Three show became a word-of-mouth success in the UK after being developed from a one-woman monologue Waller-Bridge performed at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe about a young, frank-speaking London cafe owner.

Fleabag later became a hit in the United States after it was shown on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service, making Waller-Bridge a major star. The 33-year-old also developed the hit BBC America drama Killing Eve, which topped the list of nominations for this year’s Bafta TV awards after judges bent the rules to ensure it was eligible because they considered it so good.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag. Photograph: Luke Varley/Two Brothers/BBC

The second series of the show, which sees appearances from Fiona Shaw and Kristin Scott Thomas alongside its returning stars Olivia Colman and Bill Paterson, has attracted a larger audience after being shown on BBC One. Marks & Spencer claimed a scene featuring Waller-Bridge and Scott necking premixed cans of gin and tonic in a church caused sales of the product to rise by a quarter.

Last year Waller-Bridge explained her creative process: “I write from the point of view of what I’d like to watch. I’m always satisfying my own appetite. So I guess that means transgressive women, friendships, pain. I love pain.” – Guardian

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