ITV is in talks with the team behind axed BBC2 Sunday morning show Something for the Weekend to make a new version of the series for the commercial broadcaster.
The BBC's decision to end the food and chat show, fronted by Tim Lovejoy, chef Simon Rimmer and Louise Redknapp, prompted a furious reaction with more than 21,000 fans joining a Facebook group called Save Something for the Weekend From the Axe.
ITV sources say the broadcaster is in discussions about retaining the presenting team and repackaging them to create a new show for ITV.
The series is made by Princess Productions, rather than the BBC, so the production team could transfer wholesale to ITV.
One insider said talks were at early stages, adding: "We're always looking at things that might work creatively. But it would not be called Something for the Weekend."
Something Else for the Weekend, perhaps?
It is thought that the BBC is axing the show in order to save money under its Delivering Quality First initiative.
Under the plan a shrunken BBC will lose 2,000 jobs, show more repeats on BBC2 and cut spending on sport and entertainment programmes in a bid to cope with a licence fee freeze that is due to last until at least 2017.
Transferring a show to another channel after it has been dropped by one broadcaster is not a new phenomenon.
The most famous example is Men Behaving Badly, which began on ITV in 1992. It was axed after two series but was subsequently picked up by the BBC, re-cast and turned into a hit.
Others include This Is Your Life, Big Brother and Neighbours.
The BBC confirmed that it had received a number of complaints about axing the show but could not confirm how many at the time of publication.
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