City Homicide not axed, insists Seven

In 2011 the series will return to the airwaves as a six-part miniseries titled City Homicide: No Greater Honour, abandoning the 20-or-more-episodes-a-year format it's had since its premiere in 2007.

Seven's programming boss Tim Worner blamed City Homicide's fate on the slew of digital channels that have popped up on free-to-air TV in recent years. ""In days of old, its renewal would have been a no-brainer," he said in a statement. "But in this multi-channel environment, such decisions aren't as clear-cut as they once were."

Spiralling ratings probably have a lot to do with the not-quite-cancellation-but-not-quite-renewal too: in '07 it premiered in a healthy 1.7 million viewers, while its most recent episode barely passed 1 million.