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Robot Wars (TV series)

Robot combat competition

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The original run of the show consisted of six series broadcast on BBC Two from 20 February 1998 to 4 October 2002 (though the fifth and sixth series originally aired on BBC Choice), followed by a seventh series broadcast on Channel 5 from 2 November 2003 to 7 March 2004. A celebrity special aired on BBC One in 2000, and the spin-off Robot Wars Extreme originally aired on BBC Choice for two series in 2001 and 2003, before also airing on BBC Two.

Jeremy Clarkson presented the first series, before being replaced by Craig Charles for the rest of the original run, with co-hosting duties taken by Philippa Forrester (1998–2000, 2002–2003), Julia Reed (2000–2001) and Jayne Middlemiss (2003–2004). The revival aired three series and five specials on BBC Two from 11 July 2016 to 7 January 2018, presented by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon. The announcer for the entirety of the series' run was Jonathan Pearce.

History

US Robot Wars events

Robot Wars was the brainchild of Marc Thorpe, a designer working for the LucasToys division of Lucasfilm. In 1992, Thorpe had the initial idea for robot combat sport after unsuccessfully attempting to create a radio-controlled vacuum cleaner. In 1994, Marc Thorpe created Robot Wars and held the first competition at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Approximately one month prior to the event, Thorpe formed a partnership with New York-based record company Sm:)e Communications, later Profile Records, who provided additional funding.

Original television series

Gutteridge and one of his producers Steve Carsey created a television format based on the Robot Wars concept. They produced a live event opposite BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London and hired Derek Foxwell to build 3 combat robots, 2 of which were named The Mouse and Grunt who would eventually take part in the first UK series of Robot Wars, to take on three American robots, Thor, La Machine and The Master, all of which were veterans of the original American competition. The Controller of BBC Two, Michael Jackson, attended the event, which was not filmed and he promised to commission a series. However, it was not until 1998 that a subsequent Controller of BBC Two, Mark Thompson, fulfilled Jackson's promise and actually commissioned six episodes. Gutteridge and Carsey were producers and Foxwell was the technical supervisor and senior technical consultant. He drafted the rules and regulations and was in charge of the pit area and the technical team, which scrutinised the robots, got them on and off stage and helped the contestants prepare and repair their robots. Mat Irvine, initially a member of the technical team, served as a member of the judging panel in 2002 and 2003.

The three person judging panel consisted of Noel Sharkey (head judge on every series: 1998–2004, 2016–18), Eric Dickinson (1998), Adam Harper (1998–99), Martin Smith (1999–2004), Myra Wilson (2000–01), Mat Irvine (2001–04), Sethu Vijayakumar (2016–18) and Lucy Rogers (2016–18).

On the first day, I was in the dressing room and looking in the mirror and looking down at the arena. And they were pulling the robots into the arena on an invisible twine because nothing was working. And I was thinking: "Oh my God, what have I done with my career?" And you know, within the blink of an eye, it was the most watched show on BBC2.

— Presenter Craig Charles on the success of Robot Wars in the late 1990s and early 2000s which aired on Friday evening and attracted over six million viewers.

Profile sought no input or consent from Thorpe before doing this, which aggravated the already troubled relationship between Thorpe and Profile Records and indirectly spurred legal disagreements surrounding the ownership of the Robot Wars concept. The legal proceedings surrounding these would last until 6 February 2002. Mentorn used Thorpe as a Consultant on the series, however and the initial series of Robot Wars in the UK was broadcast over six weeks in February and March 1998. It was an immediate hit, with more than two million viewers and a further 18 episodes were commissioned by the BBC that year. 155 episodes were produced in total and the show was seen in 26 countries. Two series were produced in the US for The National Network (now Paramount Network) and a version was also shown on Nickelodeon. TechTV (and later G4techTV/G4) in the US aired the UK series proper. Series were also produced in many European countries. Although the series had various directors and producers, all were produced in the UK by Mentorn and executive produced by Tom Gutteridge and Steve Carsey. The initial series were staged in various film studios around London but the stage and pit area became too large to fit into any of the conventional studios, so filming was later moved to an aircraft hangar at RAF Newton.

The series received six million viewers in the UK during its peak in the late 1990s, and the format went on to become a worldwide success which has aired in 45 countries. Its merchandising was commercially successful, being one of the best-selling toy ranges of 2002.

Viewing figures dropped significantly in the early 2000s, reaching only 1.2 million in the sixth series – the final to be broadcast on BBC Two. It was cancelled by the BBC in March 2003, and Mentorn announced it was making 22 episodes for Channel 5, concluding with The Third World Championships broadcast in March 2004. Following its move to Channel 5 in November 2003, the show first began airing in a new Sunday night slot and launched with one million viewers; however ratings fell quickly to 800,000 resulting in the show moving to Saturday nights after just three episodes. Channel 5 later axed the show after one series due to low ratings. After Robot Wars ended, an edited half-hour version of this series aired on Fox Kids (later Jetix) from 2004, on Bravo from after 2004, on Dave from 2010 and on Challenge & Sky History from before 2016.

In 2003, roboteers from the series formed The Fighting Robot Association in order to organize live events. In 2013, Roaming Robots purchased the rights to the Robot Wars brand from Robot Wars LLC and operated their travelling robotic combat show under that name. The use of the name Robot Wars for live shows ceased in early 2017, being renamed Extreme Robots.

Revival

On 13 January 2016, the BBC confirmed that it would be rebooting the show for a six-part series. The revived series was hosted by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon with Jonathan Pearce returning as commentator. The first episode was broadcast on 24 July at 8pm, the same slot as Top Gear. Some robots from the original series returned, including Behemoth and Storm II, as well as four of the original House Robots, which were upgraded to be heavier, faster, better armed and with new looks. The 2016 series was filmed in a warehouse at Westway Park in Renfrew, Scotland.

The first episode received about two million viewers and was the top trending topic on Twitter with over 20,000 tweets.

A second rebooted series was commissioned with a first celebrity special in 16 years, in which celebrities, such as Olympians Kadeena Cox and Alistair Brownlee and Jonny Brownlee, TV presenters Suzi Perry, Neil Oliver and Maggie Aderin-Pocock, singer Jordan Stevens and radio presenters Scott Mills and Robbie Savage had bespoke robots designed for them by eight major roboteers, who mentored them during the specials.

During its original airing, the first rebooted series was sometimes referred to as "Series 1", presenting itself as a completely new show. Starting in 2017, however, the BBC began referring to it as Series 8, with the following second series appropriately dubbed Series 9, acknowledging itself as a continuation of the original show. Following the 10th series, it was revealed that the BBC had decided not to renew the show for an 11th, axing Robot Wars for the second time. The cancellation was met with backlash from fans.

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