In 1997 a Channel 4 executive was said by "The Guardian" to be "insistent that 'it's a popular misconception that we killed it off. In fact we never lost it. We haven't done another series, but we did a one-off "After Dark" recently in our abortion season'. Bizarrely, Channel 4 cited "After Dark" as a model of the kind of cerebral programme it wanted when inviting (independent production company) submissions in May... 'I can't think of any ideas that would make better late-night programming than "After Dark",' he said, echoing the words of the original commissioning executive of "After Dark", Seamus Cassidy, who in an interview to the "Irish News" in 2005 said, "I'm probably most proud of "After Dark"."