Top Manchester TV crime drama Blue Murder has been killed off.

Star Caroline Quentin revealed the news, saying: “It’s been axed, which is a big disappointment.”

The former Men Behaving Badly actress played single mum DCI Janine Lewis – alongside Ian Kelsey as DI Richard Mayne – in five series of the award-winning ITV1 drama.

Caroline, 49, said there was no clue the show was ending when cast and crew filmed the last episode, screened last October.

She said: “We honestly didn’t suspect. So we haven’t had the chance to say a lot of goodbyes. Everyone was sad when we found out.”

Guest stars in the final series, filmed in and around Manchester city centre, included Coronation Street’s Chris Gascoyne and former Weatherfield actress Tina O’Brien.

Caroline added: “The last series was the best we’d ever made. I thought it was fantastic. It took us a long time to get it right but we all felt we’d finally cracked it.

“It would have been nice to have the opportunity to finish the series. But I understand how it works. TV has got to move on.

“We did five or six years of it. That’s a good innings and we had a good time. It’s time for something different.”

First screened in 2003, Blue Murder is the latest high profile ITV1 drama to be dropped in a series of cuts and reshuffles.

ITV has already axed several shows, including Stephen Fry’s Kingdom and Where The Heart Is, with production of Heartbeat and The Royal mothballed.

Caroline is back on screen on March 17 as multi-tasking mother Maddy in a second series of BBC1 sitcom Life of Riley. The comedy co-stars new Midsomer Murders leading man Neil Dudgeon as her husband.