American Idol ending after 15 seasons

The Fox Network's 'ratings Death Star' has been cancelled

Carrie Underwood winning American Idol in 2005 (Getty Images)

American Idol, the US version of Simon Fuller’s original singing competition Pop Idol, has been cancelled by Fox after 15 series.

A huge ratings hit, the X Factor-style singing competition was affectionately dubbed the Fox Network’s Death Star for its ability to annihilate the viewing numbers of rival programmes.

Clarkson being kissed by a fan on ‘American Idol’ (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

The competition, which launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, will end after the upcoming series, American Idol XV, finishes.

The final season will feature the same judges as the last two series - Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr - and will be presented by Ryan Seacrest who has been the face of the show since it started.

At its peak in 2006 the programme drew 36 million viewers for its season finale.

But ratings have been falling steadily and the 14th series finale was watched by only 11.6 million.

The British original devised by Fuller ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003 and was responsible for the creation of Hear’Say.