The BBC has confirmed that Candy Cabs, its comedy drama about a group of northern women establishing their own taxi firm, will not return for a second series.

Reportedly, the show has been canned after viewing figures slumped during the course of the series, which was broadcast in April.

The first episode of the three-part series attracted 5.48 million viewers (a 22.5% share of the audience), which was above the 5.09 million average for the show's 9pm time slot.

However, the following two episodes achieved ratings of of 4.27 million (17.6%) and 3.62 million (15.6%) respectively, averaging 4.45 million (18.62%) over the course of the series.

A spokeswoman for the BBC told Broadcast: "Unfortunately we will not be bringing Candy Cabs back but we're looking forward to seeing more from the team behind the show and we're already talking to them about new ideas."

The series, with its trademark fleet of bright pink Citroen vehicles, came into heavy criticism before airing and throughout its run, due to the storyline's similarity to the 1963 British comedy classic Carry On Cabby, starring Sid James. It also attracted criticism for writing that was seen as weak, inconsistent, and showed limited knowledge of the programme's subject business.

Candy Cabs' cancellation will be seen as a blow to producer Splash Media, who spent almost four years developing the series for television.