Rob Woodward, the station’s chief executive said he made a “major mistake” by cutting mainstream programmes in favour of content dubbed “shortbread TV”, according to reports.
The police drama as well as the popular show Doc Martin starring Martin Clunes were among the primetime ITV shows cut in January -- a move which STV denied was to save money.
Benidorm and Midsomer Murders were also axed in favour of home-produced programmes the station said viewers wanted to see, such as The Greatest Scot, Made in Scotland and Scotland Revealed. Repeats and old films also made up the new schedule.
But they failed to attract viewers, with just 13% of the Scottish television audience tuning into The Greatest Scot, while drama Collision, starring Douglas Henshall, which STV had refused to show, drew 30% of UK viewers.
Concerns have been raised about STV’s decision to axe network shows after figures showed it is facing its worst year for audience ratings.
The commercial station’s all-day average audience has dropped by 12% in the past year and its share is understood to be at its lowest ebb.
Mr Woodward admitted STV “failed” its audience and plans to bring some favourites back.
He said: “We hope our audience will be pleasantly surprised when we unveil our schedule in the New Year. You can expect to see some more of ITV’s drama back on the screens.”
But home-produced content will continue to make up 10% of shows on STV.
“When we schedule high quality, home-produced content it attracts a strong audience. What doesn’t work is relying on old repeats or film stock,” added Mr Woodward.
The decision to drop the ITV favourites sparked a row between the two broadcasters resulting in three court cases.
ITV announced it was to sue STV in September for £38million, claiming the broadcaster owes it money for the programmes it had chosen not to show.
Then STV launched a counter claim for £35m over advertising revenue it says has not been evenly distributed.
STV claimed in November it could be owed as much as £18m over ITV’s screening of its network programmes via cable providers.
A spokesman for ITV said: “At the time of the legal action in September we said that STV is attempting retrospectively to opt out of an increasing number of peaktime programmes, which contravenes existing agreements.”
The Herald revealed in August that ITV1’s lavish £3m adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights shown on ITV1 over the August Bank Holiday was dropped by STV in favour of Sirens, a seven-year-old made-for TV drama with Daniela Nardini.
Only one new network drama from ITV’s line-up made it on to STV’s schedule -- Murderland, which stars Robbie Coltrane and is set in Scotland.
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