After a promising start on primetime television, BBC’s “Outcasts” has now been shifted to the UK channels death slot.

In its first episode, the drama series attracted an impressive 4.4 million viewers and revolved heavily around the character Mitchell, played by “Battlestar Galactica’s” Jamie Bamber.

The launch episode received poor reviews, with many critics slamming the show for being to slow and failing to carry any tension. Although the setup of the series picked up in the following episodes and since then the stories have become more focused, the ratings have not.

This week, episodes 3 and 4 dropped to almost half of what the initial launch received. Episode 3 attracted 2.9 million viewers, with episode 4 slipping even further to 2.6 million.

Revolving around a group of settlers on the planet Carpathia, “Outcasts” is set against the background of an Earth-wide evacuation as the human race tries to secure its future. However, the settling process is far from perfect and each of the colonists are unable to escape the sins of their past.

The series has been in production since 2007 and filming took place in 2010 in South Africa in order to give the series a landscape needed to sell the idea that Carpathia is a barren and empty world.

Despite the poor ratings performance by “Outcasts,” BBC drama controller Ben Stephenson insists that this will not stop BBC from taking risks or commissioning shows that do things a little bit different.

“BBC1 and BBC Drama support creative risk,” he said. “Sometimes this means that talented people make shows that don’t engage enough of the audience. I have so much respect for any writer who has the nerve and confidence to create their own original world and serve it up to an audience.”

The current schedule will continue for episodes 5 and 6, with episode 7 moving to the late slot on Feb. 27.

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Full details of the new blockbuster science-fiction series Outcasts were released by the BBC on 21 January 2011. Due to start on BBC One in early February, the eight part series tells the story of a group of pioneers building a future on another planet.

They are based in a town called Forthaven on Carpathia, the year is 2040, they are passionate about their jobs, confident of their ideals and optimistic about the future. But the planet brings with it the possibility for corruption and redemption. They made mistakes on Earth, and these are mistakes they could easily repeat again in what is for them a second chance.

However, they also discover there is something different about Carpathia that threatens any stability that they have so far achieved. Add to this the anxiety of a transporter on its way from Earth with passengers that are wanted by some but not by others.

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Sorry, I couldn’t embed the trailer everyone but click here to watch the first trailer for “Outcasts”.

Jamie Bamber has admitted that he was “initially” cautious about accepting a role in the BBC’s new sci-fi drama Outcasts.

The actor – who will also appear in the new series of Law & Order: UK – told What’s On TV that he was nervous about taking on a character similar to his previous role as Lee ‘Apollo’ Adama in Battlestar Galactica.

“Initially, I wasn’t sure about doing it because I didn’t want to do something so similar to Battlestar Galactica,” he said. “Battlestar was such an untouchable experience.”

He continued: “I didn’t want to sully it with something else that might not live up to it.”

Bamber went on to explain his role in the new BBC space drama.

“I play a pioneer on a colonised planet,” he said. “Earth has gone kaput and there are 50,000 people left trying to make an existence for themselves on a planet far, far away. But he’s also damaged goods – he’s a like bomb waiting to go off.”

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Outcasts Synopsis: Outcasts is set in 2040 on a recently-discovered planet and tells of the dilemmas, loves and lives of a group of people setting up a new world. This life-sustaining planet is now home to the surviving population from Earth. Here there is a chance to start again, to bring the lessons learnt from Earth and to put them into action on a new planet.

The series begins on the day the last known transporter from Earth arrives, prompting great excitement on the new planet – who is on board? Friends and loved ones? Important supplies and news from Earth? But also many questions – will the new people bring the problems of Earth with them? Will the mistakes that destroyed Earth be repeated? Will the arrival of a new, would-be leader, rock the fragile and precarious equilibrium of the fresh, unified and courageous new world? And, most importantly of all, how is a new and better world created?

Who’s Who

Julius Berger (Eric Mabius) was Vice President of the Evacuation Program on Earth, instrumental in leading the evacuation to Carpathia. Berger is en route to the new planet on board transporter CT9, expecting the power and status he enjoyed on Earth.

President Richard Tate (Liam Cunningham) runs Carpathia and is dedicated to keeping the human species alive. He is a fair and respected leader who is determined to run the planet in a democratic way, yet he has made some tough decisions in the past which may prove divisive.

Stella Isen (Hermione Norris) is President Tate’s second in command. She is Head of Protection and Security (PAS), the faculty that aims to maintain order on the new planet. She has sacrificed everything to save humanity, and desperately misses those she left behind on Earth.

Cass Cromwell (Daniel Mays) is a PAS Officer who is unpredictable and fiercely loyal to Tate. His loyalty may have led him to take actions he now regrets, and there are hints his past may be very different to his life now on Carpathia – but he is proud of his new home and keen to maintain it.

Fleur Morgan (Amy Manson) is a young, bright and idealistic PAS Officer, who works closely with Cass Cromwell. She has found her stride on Carpathia and fights hard to protect what they’ve worked for. She has a great working relationship with Cass. Will it develop into something more?

Mitchell Hoban (Jamie Bamber) is Head of the Expeditionaries. Progressive and ambitious, he is frustrated at the established order and has his own ideas as to how the planet should be run.

Jack Holt (Ashley Walters) is second in command of the Expeditionaries, a group of courageous men who explore their new planet and bring back vital information about its landscape and conditions. Jack is tough, armed and potentially dangerous.

Rudi (Langley Kirkwood) is leader of the Advanced Cultivars, a group of genetically modified humans and one of Carpathia’s darkest secrets. Angered at the way they have been treated, Rudi is capable of exacting revenge on the people of Forthaven.

Lily Isen (Jeanne Kietzmann) is Stella’s daughter, who Stella had to leave behind on Earth when she came to Carpathia. Lost and troubled, Jeanne seeks answers.

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