What was happening with the show between 2000 and Jan/Feb 2001

Was the show on official hiatus for the 14 months (2000 and Jan/Feb 2001) between airing series 5 and 6? Or had the BBC not ordered additional shows until the decision to start series 6? Tony Doyle's death undoubtedly caused a lot of changes to existing plans and completed or preparatory work. Does anyone know of any documentation or official/posted statement of what was going on during this time? I'm not looking for opinions please.

Were they sacked or simply stuck in uncertainty of the BBC deciding to continue the show and needing work? "An actor is only as good as his current job"

I know that the BBC announced March 11, 2001 (the first UK air date of "The Cat and Daddy G") that the show was cancelled. I'm curious if they brought Kieran Prendiville back to "reboot" the series as he wrote more episodes for series 6 than any other series. Ultimately I guess the BBC saw the new series as unworthy as writing hadn't even completed for the whole series at that time and we were left with more incomplete stories (like series 5) and more disappearing characters?

IMHO there must be interesting stories about the cast changes throughout the entire show that haven't been told. I'm sure the actors would be reluctant to disparage the largest production company in the world (the BBC and almost all of them have further credits with the BBC) but I would love to know. Don't bite the hand that feeds you...