CSI axed after 15 years, TV movie to wrap it up

Ted Danson will be joining spinoff series CSI: Cyber instead

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation first launched in 2000

Police drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has been axed after fifteen years on air.

Ratings have been dropping recently since the show's ratings glory days of 26 million viewers, and now US network CBS have made the decision to wrap it all up with a two-hour TV movie, scheduled to broadcast on 27 September.

The news was announced by CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler yesterday, with original CSI stars William Peterson and Marg Helgenberger already confirmed to reprise their roles as Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows in the finale film.

Disappointed CSI fans will be pleased to hear that lead actor Ted Danson, who plays DB Russell, will be joining spinoff series CSI: Cyber, the last remaining show in the franchise after both CSI: Miami and CSI: NY were cancelled in 2012 and 2013.

CSI will also be remembered for creating the CSI Effect or CSI Syndrome, the term given to the exaggerated presentation of forensic science on TV shows. Viewers were regularly shown murder scenes and autopsies.

The cancellation follows Fox's announcement that American Idol will also be discontinued, with Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr and Ryan Seacrest losing their jobs as judges and host.