PAT KENNY’S CHAT show on UTV Ireland has been given the axe after just one season.

Pat Kenny In The Round ran for five episodes beginning in May but it’s failed to capture a big enough audience to get a second run.

The show’s audience averaged 150,000 for the first episode with Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte before dropping to 66,000 with astronaut Chris Hadfield. The fifth and final episode of the show with Daniel O’Donnell and his wife Majella garnered an audience of 168,000 viewers. 

The station is understood to be considering how best they can use Kenny in the build up to the general election.

“UTV Ireland has decided not to go ahead with a second series of In The Round this autumn,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

“We are delighted to have worked with Coco Television and we would like to thank them for their hard work and commitment to UTV Ireland this year. We look forward to engaging with them in the future on new projects.”

The show’s format saw the veteran broadcaster interviewing a guest each week for an hour on front of a studio audience in Dublin’s Mansion House.

The show wasn’t broadcast live but was pre-recorded, a decision Kenny himself is believed to have been unhappy with.

The first episode of the show saw Kenny speaking to Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte and concluded with an interview with Daniel O’Donnell and his wife Majella.

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The confirmation that the show isn’t being renewed by UTV Ireland comes just two weeks after its makers Coco Television advertised for audience members for the second season.

UTV Ireland announced last year that Kenny was joining the station and although many expected that he would be doing so to present a news programme, this wasn’t the case.

In its statement about the show, UTV Ireland confirmed that Kenny is not leaving the station and that they are “currently discussing future projects” with him.

Read: UTV Ireland has dragged its owner’s whole TV business into the red >

Read: What on Earth is going on at UTV Ireland? We had 12 questions for the station’s chief >