ITV's Peak Practice has been axed after a decade but its successor, another medical drama set in the Peak District, has already been commissioned.
The future of the series had been in doubt for some time. In recent months, hit shows such as Spooks and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet have enabled the BBC to take ITV's place as the home of popular drama.
Peak Practice, along with Heartbeat and London's Burning, enjoyed considerable success during the 90s but ITV chiefs now realise they must reinvigorate the schedules with fresh ideas.
Although the last series of Peak Practice gained respectable average viewing figures of around 6.7 millon, ITV and the show's producer, Carlton, have decided to bring the show to a close.
The three actors moved on to other projects but Shepherd returned for the 10th series. He was joined by Maggie O'Neill and Gray O'Brien, who played as his fellow doctors, while the former Coronation Street star Eva Pope played a psychotic nurse.
The show's replacement, Sweet Medicine, is being developed by the Peak Practice executive producer, Sharon Bloom.
The series is unlikely to win any awards for originality. The main characters will be husband and wife GPs Nicholas and Deborah Sweet, who leave their London surgery to take over his father's practice in rural Derbyshire after his death.
The series will follow their attempts to transform the sleepy practice into a hi-tech health centre in the face of opposition from Nicholas's formidable mother, Georgina.
"Peak Practice gets good viewing figures but we decided it was time to move on. It has been going for nearly 10 years and we needed to take a fresh look at things," said a Carlton spokeswoman.