The Larkins 'faces axe' at ITV after second season

The drama also hit the headlines when actress Sabrina Bartlett left the series after the first season. The Daily Mail reported at the time that her departure was due to a "sensitive" on-set "disagreement", although her publicist told the publication that it was because of "scheduling clashes".

She was replaced by former Emmerdale actress Joelle Rae, who took over the role of Mariette.

A tabloid source has now called the ratings for season 2 "disappointingly low" and suggested there were "other disagreements” on set.

RadioTimes.com has reached out about the report to ITV, which has yet to comment.

While the second season's figures were down on the first outing, it's worth noting that The Larkins was still consistently one of ITV1's top-rated shows, only behind the likes of Emmerdale, Coronation Street, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and Doc Martin.

According to BARB's consolidated 7-day figures, ratings also remained relatively steady across all six episodes, with its first episode pulling in 4m viewers and its final episode getting 4.47m.

The series is an adaptation of HE Bates's 1958 novel The Darling Buds of May, and also stars Joanna Scanlan and Bradley Walsh as much-loved couple Ma and Pop Larkin.

The Larkins seasons 1 and 2 are available to watch now on ITVX. You can buy The Darling Buds of May on Amazon.

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