I never saw this first time around, i came across it on BBC4 a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. Was sad to see, upon coming here, that they only made three episodes, as it seems to have a charm that would keep me coming back.
No mentions by the BBC press office that it was cancelled or renewed so i'm guessing it was just forgotten. Sad.
It will surely go down in British TV history as a major opportunity wasted if The Great Outdoors is never re-commissioned for a second series. After all, Jim Shelley of the Daily Mirror described it as "brilliant" and said it had "the makings of a classic"- and that was on the evidence of just three episodes:
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/shelleyvision/2010/08/the-great-outdoors-has -makings.html
Maybe this 2010 account by co-writer Kevin Cecil of the difficulties of trying to pitch a comedy about walking to a TV executive gives us a clue as to why the industry just doesn't seem interested ("Afterwards my writing partner Andy Riley and I were disappointed"):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/comedy/2010/07/kevin-cecil-on-pitching-a-sh ow.shtml
I am also just speculating here but could it be that co-producer Tidy Productions (an obvious vehicle for Ruth Jones run by herself and her husband David Peet) has been giving undue priority to producing shows that Ruth herself has written especially with her own career enhancement in mind? Instead of following up on the success of The Great Outdoors (which Ruth didn't write and in which her character, although important, is not totally indispensable) Tidy opted to make nine episodes of Stella for Sky TV, which has already paid off for Ruth with the inevitable BAFTA nomination and a second series about to be made. Could it be that the only way fans will ever get to see more episodes of The Great Outdoors is if the series is offered to a different production company, which would inevitably mean that Ruth's character Christine would have to be written out, or replaced by another actress. Let us face it- what is best for Ruth Jones' career may not necessarily be best for fans of The Great Outdoors and if that's the case then she and her husband should not be given the right of veto over any new series.
Given a Hobson's Choice, I would prefer new episodes without Ruth rather than no new epsiodes at all, provided Katherine Parkinson and Mark Heap can be kept on board.
Interview with Ruth Jones and David Peet about Tidy Productions ("...we wanted to have creative control"):
http://www.tidyproductions.co.uk/?page_id=440
"After all, what is time? A mere tyranny"share