Luke Littler’s darts World Series debut axed from live TV in favour of repeat of drama that last aired 14 years ago

LUKE LITTLER’S World Series debut will NOT he shown on live TV, it has been confirmed.

The teenage sensation, 16, grabbed the British public’s attention earlier this month when he stormed to the final of the PDC World Darts Championship on his tournament debut.

Luke Littler’s World Series debut in Bahrain will not be shown on live TVEPA

Littler came up short in the final, losing 7-4 to World No1 Luke Humphries in a match watched by a record 4.8 MILLION people.

The Warrington wonderkid has rapidly become arguably the biggest name in darts despite him only earning his first PDC Tour Card this year.

Yet it has still been decided Littler’s debut at the Bahrain World Series of Darts will not be shown on TV.

The event takes place on Thursday, January 17 and concludes on Friday.

Instead, it has been moved to ITVX – the on-demand streaming service for ITV programmes.

In its place, repeats of Downton Abbey and Heartbeat will air on ITV3 – the later of which had its final episode back in 2010.

Meanwhile, ITV4 will be showing snooker’s World Grand Prix.

The Bahrain Masters will consist of eight PDC players – including Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright – and eight Asian representatives in a 16-person tournament.

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The Philippines’ Lourence Ilagan, who lost in the first round of the world championships last month, will headline the show.

Littler’s first televised World Series event will now be the Dutch Masters.

The competition gets underway on January 26 and will air on ITV4.