Robot Wars to return to BBC Two after 14 years

Let’s hope that robots don’t become sentient any time soon, with the news that the BBC is to bring back the incredibly popular show Robot Wars with more destruction and more science.

The new Robot Wars will include technological advances with what’s promised to be more innovative fighting machines.

It wouldn’t be the same without them!

The end of the series caused controversy for the Notts-based owners, Robot Arenas Ltd, who failed in a High Court claim for more than £300,000 compensation after the set was sold as scrap for only £250. The new series will be filmed at a new custom built Robo-arena in Glasgow, Scotland and will once again task amateur robot builders to create and control their own mecha-gladiators to do battle for the right to be crowned champion.

Exec producers are Tinopolis’ Chris Brogden; Andrew Robertson of Mentorn Scotland and Jo Street for the BBC.

The series began on BBC Two in 1998 and ran on various channels until ceasing in 2004, with Jeremy Clarkson, Philippa Forrester and Craig Charles among the presenters. He said the redeveloped Robot Wars proved compelling, offering a mix of “real people, real passion and raw power”. “Its return will see new and improved robots, with extraordinary innovation and power in these updated machines – it promises to be quite the competition”. BattleBots itself branched off from the original idea for the United States version of Robot Wars, sparking a plethora of spin offs across the world.

Shillinglaw described Robot Wars as “an absolute TV classic” and a “fantastic example of the kind of content-rich factual entertainment that BBC2 excels at”.