Channel 4 has axed the Rosie Jones-created and led comedy Pushers after just one series.
The series, set in the fictional Northern town of Bracklington and filmed primarily in Manchester, was co-created by and starred Jones herself as Emily, who has cerebral palsy and finds herself in a financial pickle when her state benefits get unfairly reduced.
She is then recruited by her old school friend Ewen (Ryan McParland) to make up the difference via drug dealing, recruiting other disabled people to join their gang in order to evade suspicion and using her volunteer workplace, charity Wee C U, as a cover to sell cocaine, and later in the series spice, or, as the official synopsis puts it:
“Having had her state benefits cut to shreds after being made redundant, a young woman with very little left to lose begins to build an illegal drugs empire. But Emily (Rosie Jones) isn’t your average street-dealing dope peddler – she’s sharp, funny, biting, highly educated – and on top of all that, she has cerebral palsy. People have underestimated Emily her entire life. If they’re not patronising her for completing the most menial of tasks, they’re pretending she’s not there. What better disguise could there be for criminal activity than to be entirely written off by the same broken system which exists to protect the law?”
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Pushers was produced by Merman and 2LE Media, and began life as a C4 comedy short called Disability Benefits in 2022 before it was expanded to a six-part sitcom for the channel, debuting in June 2025.
The series marked the debut sitcom creation from Yorkshire comic Jones, who co-wrote the show with Peter Fellows. It was shortlisted for best comedy at this year’s Broadcast Awards and Jones was nominated for her comedy performance at the recent Bafta TV Awards.
A Channel 4 spokesperson said: “We’re so proud of Pushers and would like to thank Rosie Jones, Peter Fellows, 2LE Media and Merman Television for their brilliant and dedicated work on the series. We look forward to working together on future projects.
“Like all broadcasters, we regularly review our programming to ensure we’re offering the right range of content for our viewers. This means making difficult decisions on which shows to rest, return or conclude.”
