Ross Kemp’s Channel 5 program exploring the world’s most perilous prisons abruptly axed halfway through latest season

, the show has been scrapped over the cost of filming - with the site claiming bosses weren’t happy at how expensive the series was getting. 

Kemp had reportedly already filmed one of the episodes in Colombia in October last year, and it now may never see the light of day. 

Sources told the site they were planning to film in Ecuador, but a coup in the country stopped the team in their tracks days before they were due to film as it became ‘unrealistic’ to continue. 

When approached by The Sun Online, a Channel 5 spokesperson said: "Filming had begun on the series, but due to unforeseen production challenges, we made the practical decision to halt filming and will not be progressing further."

When the series was announced last year, the team boasted Kemp - who has earned high praise for his previous 'On Gangs' and prison documentaries - would spend time in high-security prisons.

They noted he would be mixing with gang leaders, serial killers, violent criminals, drug lords and mass murderers "to see first-hand what it is like to live among society’s most dangerous people.”

It's not yet known how Channel 5's working relationship with Kemp's producers Freshwater Films and Chalkboard TV will continue, with the original story claiming they're now coming up with new projects.