Why Misfits Should Be Cancelled

I remember when Misfits used to be good. Following Simon, Kelly, Alisha, Curtis and, of course, the magnificent Nathan (above), the series, when it burst onto our TV screens in 2009, was one of the funniest, most original shows out there. Led by Nathan, portrayed by Robert Sheehan - the hysterical, sharp witted, unflinchingly sarcastic break-out character from the show - it was all anyone was talking about. The plot was terrific, the characters each compelling, with Simon's shy and somewhat dark persona, Kelly's bad attitude and snappy retorts, Alisha's "bad girl" sex appeal, Curtis' shrouded past as a drugs cheat and Nathan's fantastic humour, wit and retort, and apparent lack of a super power, the show had more than enough substance to it. And then... and then... Well, metaphorically speaking, the turkey was carved and shred of all its juicy innards. First, Sheehan left the cast after series 2, thus removing the shows main source of humour, and so in an attempt to compensate, Joseph Gilgun of This Is England was drafted in, but funny as he is, failed to fill Nathan's boots. In December last year, actress April Thomas announced she would not be reprising her role as Alisha in the series, becoming the second main cast member after Sheehan to quit the show. Then later that month, Iwan Rehon, who played Alisha's boyfriend Simon, also announced his departure from the show. To make matters worse, in May this year, yet another of the casts mainstays, Kelly, left the show too, apparently by mutual consent, after actress Lauren Socha was given a four month prison sentence and quite ironially ordered to carry out 80 hours of community service for racially assaulting a Derby taxi driver after a 9 hour drinking session. All of a sudden, the actors and actresses who you can clearly see in the picture above, and who contributed to making the show as good as it was, had all vanished from the program. Now we are told to expect four new actors and actresses to replace them when series 4 airs next Sunday - with the characters Jess, Alex, Finn and Abby who will probably make up a new batch of delinquents on Community Service being confirmed. With this, it feels as though the show is restarting from the beginning, and that all it's good work in past seasons is being buried. It has more than a feel of "Scrubs Series Nine" about it, the ill-fated and final series of the American comedy-drama which attempted to fill the void left by the departure of several main cast members with new recruits that nobody cared about or wanted to care about, for that matter. We have invested in Kelly, Alisha, Simon and Nathan as characters, and now that they are gone, the show should give up the ghost and go with them. It will never be the same.