A group of campaigners who want a second series made of ITV’s Jane Austen series ‘Sanditon’ have turned to sand artist Simon Beck this week to create a huge piece of beach art on Brean Beach.
Two 120-metre large faces appeared on Brean beach on Monday (September 14th) on behalf of the ‘Sanditon Sisterhood’ group, which is campaigning for a second series of the show to be made. ITV filmed the drama on Brean beach last year, as featured here.
Sand artist Simon Beck, pictured, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “This was certainly one of the most unusual pieces of sand art I have been commissioned to create – it’s my 137th piece of sand art on the beach.”
Juliet Creese from the Sanditon Sisterhood group explains: “Sanditon was a TV series based on Jane Austen’s final uncompleted novel. Like the story on which it is based, Sanditon is currently incomplete as just one season was made by ITV.”
“The series is only half finished, with a heart wrenching cliffhanger, and a very un-Austen-like finale. The outcry of shock and anger from fans after the finale has morphed into a collective demand for the continuation of the series. Fans all over the world have taken to social media to mobilise their campaign to Save Sanditon.”
“The spectacular sand art has been created for the Save Sanditon campaign to get the attention of potential international network partners and seek the renewal of the international hit series.”
The Sanditon fans raised enough funds to commission Simon Beck within only a couple of hours.
The ITV show was not renewed after the first season due to disappointing viewing figures but the campaigners say that was due to the show being scheduled at the same time as BBC hit Peaky Blinders. Overseas, the show with big TV audiences.
The production company for Sanditon, Red Planet Pictures, said in a statement: “We can’t wait to see what the Sanditon Sisterhood and Simon Beck have created. As ever we’re in awe of their work and grateful for all their efforts on Sanditon’s behalf!”
Amazon Prime UK has recently taken notice of the clamour for a second series and they said on Twitter that the service is currently ‘exploring the potential’ for a second season.
