TV bosses have torn up the schedules after the final episode of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was ruined for thousands of North-East viewers.
The BBC switchboard was swamped with hundreds of calls on Sunday night after elec storms blacked out the last ten minutes of the hit series, which has featured the reunion of Geordie builders Oz, Dennis and Neville and their pals.
The problem was caused when lightening struck the Pontop Pike transmitter at Dipton, near Stanley, County Durham.
The storms also caused power cuts for thousands of people in the region.
The outcry has led to BBC controller Lorraine Hegg-essy deciding to show the final episode again at 9pm on Thursday, replacing a re-run of the 1960s film The Italian Job.
Playwright Ed Waugh, of South Shields, an acquaintance of Auf Wiedersehen writer Ian La Frenais, said: "We've the World Cup, the Queen's Jubilee, but the only thing I've heard anybody talk about is missing Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
"We've waited 15 years for the best programme ever to come back and we've missed it."
About 60 per cent of the TV-watching audience in the North-East have watched the show each Sunday night.
Power cuts misery - Page 7
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