BBC says Lee Evans will return

Evans: Signed a two-year contract with the BBC

The BBC has said reports that it has dropped comedian Lee Evans' comedy So What Now? are "completely untrue".

A spokesman said the prime-time sitcom, which was savaged by critics, will return for a second series.

The ratings for the first series were not a disappointment

BBC spokesman

The BBC also said viewing figures - which hit a low of 2.7 million - were not a disappointment.

It had been reported that the comedian had been paid off with £150,000 to cut his two-year contract short.

"It absolutely hasn't been axed," a BBC spokesman said. "The series completed its run in full, and a second series is in development."

He said BBC head of comedy Geoffrey Perkins has held a meeting with Evans' agent to discuss the second series.

Steven O' Donnell, Evans and Sophie Thompson

The show did well with its target 18-24 year-old audience, he added.

"The ratings for the first series were not a disappointment for the BBC because they went back up and they had a massive youth percentage."

Poor reviews

The sitcom opened at the end of March with 7.6 million viewers and 31% of the available audience.

But the following week, more than half the people who had been watching the previous programme, EastEnders, switched over when Evans' show came on.

It was moved from Monday to Tuesday nights, but ratings slipped to 2.7 million.

The show was described as "spectacularly poor" by one critic.

Evans' character is "a Mr Bean who speaks dialogue but, on this occasion, you keep hoping he'll explore silent comedy," wrote Mark Lawson in The Guardian newspaper.

But it has been sold to broadcasters in countries including Australia, Holland, Sweden, South Africa, Spain and Portugal.

Evans, who appeared in the comedy film There's Something About Mary (1998), is also set to star in a Kung Fu movie with martial arts legend Jackie Chan.