James R | On 27, Feb 2017

Cancel all your plans for this weekend, because Robot Wars is back. Yes, only a matter of weeks after the series’ Christmas special, the Beeb’s flagship programme of mechanical warfare returns for its second season of rebooted robotics.

Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon will be back to present the action in the bullet-proof arena present, with Jonathan Pearce on commentating duties.

Episode 1 will be the first group heat, with eight robots fighting for a place in the grand final. The contenders will be Nuts 2, Jellyfish, Rapid, TMHWK, Sabretooth, Terrorhurtz, Aftershock, and Crank-E.

As they battle it out, they’ll be trying to dodge all the usual arena hazards – The Pit, The Spikes, The Flipper and Fire… and, of course, the four House Robots: Matilda, Dead Metal, Sir Killalot and Shunt.

But this series, there’s a menacing new twist: hitting the Arena Tyre no longer automatically lowers The Pit. It can also activate a mode called Rogue House Robot, which releases a House Robot to attack the competitors for a period of 10 seconds, anywhere in the arena. To give us a taste of what it’s like when House Robots go rogue, the BBC has released a teaser confirming the premiere date of Sunday 5th March, while also featuring the House Robots attacking a poor, innocent, harmless little Vauxhall Corsa.

And here’s the full thing:

Robot Wars Season 2 will begin at 7pm on Sunday 5th March, proving the perfect warm-up act for the second season of the all-new Top Gear, which will follow Robot Wars on BBC Two at 8pm.

 

Robot Wars will return for a celebrity Christmas special

2nd December 2016

Robot Wars will return for a celebrity Christmas special this December.

Festive telly is always full of celebrity-stuffed versions of your favourite shows, but it’s with some surprise that the BBC has announced a star-studded take on its rebooted onslaught of mechanical carnage. Will we see Michael McIntyre attacked with a flamethrower? Carol Vorderman chased around a bulletproof arena by Sir Killalot?

Sadly, neither of these are true, because the celebrities will be kept safely behind the glass walls for the whole thing, as they instead design and control their own contestants. The celebrities taking part? The Brownlee Brothers, Robbie Savage, Scott Mills and Suzi Perry.

Perhaps more exciting than that, though, is that they’ll be teaming up with stars of the Robot Wars world. And so Welsh football pundit and former player Robbie will be joined by mentor Jason Marston, from Team Thor; singer Jordan Stephens by mentor John Reid from team Terrorhurtz; archaeologist, historian, author and presenter Neil Oliver by mentor Will Thomas from Team Shockwave; and Paralympian Kadeena Cox, will compete with her mentor Ellis Ware from Team Pulsar. Olympic and World Championship winning medalists Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee, meanwhile, will be mentored by Gabriel Stroud from Team Sabretooth; Space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, MBE, will be guided by mentor Shane Swan, from Team Dantonkia; TV presenter Suzi Perry will take advice from mentor Suren Balendran, of Team Supernova, and Radio 1 presenters Scott Mills and Chris Stark will work together with mentor and Season 1 runner-up Dave Moulds from Team Carbide.

Once in the arena the celebrities and their team members will battle it out, tackling the lethal arena hazards and the House Robots. If the robots don’t knock each other out, then the judges are on hand to decide the winners.

“I am a big fan of Robot Wars so I am really excited to get into the arena and experience the fights first hand. Flipper robots did really well in the series so I hope our robot doesn’t let us down and flips the competition out of the arena once and for all,” says Savage.

Oliver adds: “Robot Wars is a wonderful family show and something my kids really enjoyed watching this year. When I asked my two sons if they wanted to come on the show with me they leapt at the chance to meet Sir Killalot. Fingers crossed their imagination has inspired the creation of a mechanical monster with the apocalyptic power to crush our competition into a festive pulp.”

Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon will present Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars, which will span two episodes on 28th and 29th December. The show has already been renewed for a second season, to be broadcast in 2017.

 

Robot Wars is returning for a second season – and you can apply

12th October 2016

Robot Wars will return for a second season, the BBC has announced.

Mentorn Scotland, part of the Tinopolis Group, has been re-commissioned to produce another series of BBC Two’s successful reboot. Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon will once again take up the reins in hosting another six part series.

The show will return to the purpose-built fighting arena in Glasgow, with the House Robots also back on patrol. Reigning champions Team Apollo will also return to defend their title.

Patrick Holland, Channel Editor of BBC Two, who ordered the second run alongside Controller of Entertainment Commissioning Kate Phillips and Alan Tyler BBC Commissioning Editor, says: “Robot Wars is a brilliant BBC Two show, full of passion, specialism and spectacle. I am delighted that Dara and Angela will be once again challenging Britain’s finest robot builders to take on the dreaded house robots.”

While the reboot earlier this summer was an entertaining blast of nostalgia (and mechanical carnage), the programme sadly wasn’t open to public entry. Now, though, you can apply to enter your own robot on the show. So if you’ve always dreamed of being on Robot Wars, dust off your shopping trolleys with flame throwers taped to the wheels! Grab your wheelie bins with pickaxes glued to the lid! And then put them down again and email robotwars@mentorn.tv.

 

Robot Wars reboot gets 24th July UK air date

17th July 2016

Robot Wars is officially returning to UK TV on Sunday 24th July.

The air date has now been confirmed by BBC Two, which will air the all-new, revamped mechanical carnage at 8pm. While the show inherits the Top Gear slot from the Beeb’s other recent attempt at a revamp, the signs are all there to suggest that this will be more successful.

You can watch an exclusive trailer for the show on BBC iPlayer, giving you a glimpse of the updated House Robots. Click here to see it.

New trailer lands for 2016 Robot Wars

8th July 2016
A new trailer for the rebooted Robot Wars has landed online.

The revamped show, which was filmed in a purpose-built arena in Glasgow, will return for six episodes this summer, with Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon on hosting duties and the inimitable Jonathan Pearce in the commentary box.

Each episode will feature eight competing robots, starting with two group battles, each featuring four robots. The top two robots from each group battle then go through to head-to-head battles, where all four robots fight each other once. The top two then compete in the episode final – the winner going through to the Grand Final.

If the robots don’t knock each other out then the judges are on hand to decide the winners: Dr Lucy Rogers, Professor Noel Sharkey and Professor Sethu Vijayakumar, who will base their scores on aggression, damage and control.

The Arena will contain the dangerous hazards of Fire, Spikes, The Flipper and The Iconic Pit – and, of course, a team of House Robots, including Sir Killalot, Matilda, Shunt and Dead Metal.

There’s no confirmed start date for the new show yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as we do. In the meantime, here’s a trailer:

Dara O Briain and Angela Scanlon unveiled as new Robot Wars hosts – alongside teaser trailer

3rd February 2016

Dara O Briain and Angela Scanlon will be the new hosts of Robot Wars when it returns on BBC Two.

The reboot of the classic show was announced earlier this year by the BBC, with a purpose-built, bullet-proof arena in Glasgow already being developed for pitting homemade mechanical death machines against each other – and the fearsome house robots.

Dara and Angela will “get up close with the robots, the teams and get feedback from the Robot Wars judges”, promises the BBC.

Dara O Briain, who has become a staple in the Beeb’s line-up of science presenters, says he is “thrilled” to take over hosting duties from Jeremy Clarkson and Craig Charles.

“For too long, the schedules have cried out for a show in which dedicated amateurs, toiling day and night, handcraft sophisticated automatons built on the delicate interplay of hand-wired servo motors with custom-built circuit boards and fingertip motion control, just to see them get smashed to pieces by a dustbin carrying a massive hammer,” he comments.

Angela Scanlon adds: “I’m so excited to be joining such a legendary show that, after all this time, still manages to make people squeal with joy. I cannot wait to see the robots in all their metallic glory playfully destroying each other!”

The new series will run for six episodes and will follow a new structure that features “more robots, more battles and more science”, according to the Beeb, which says viewers can expect to see “more innovative fighting machines” in the arena.

As part of hosting the new Robot Wars on BBC2, I'll also be hosting the coverage of our actual war against the Robots in 2021.

— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) February 3, 2016

For all the technological advances, though, some things never change: the BBC has also confirmed that Jonathan Pearce will return to provide his “unique” commentary.

“Robot Wars is an immensely enjoyable programme to commentate on. I am delighted to be involved and back among the cut and thrust of the robot battles,” adds Pearce. “ACTIVATE!”

Channel Editor of BBC Two, Adam Barker says the trio are “the perfect team to bring to life all the excitement and drama from the arena and explain the innovation and technological advances being showcased in the new and improved robots”.

The new Robot Wars logo for the series, designed by Jump, has also been unveiled. You can see that above.

What will the new and improved robots look like? And will they spell changes for the house robots? If all that Robot Wars news isn’t enough to get you excited, the BBC has also offered a glimpse of what’s in store with a new teaser trailer for the rebooted Robot Wars:

And… this is what you’ve been waiting for. A sneak peek of #RobotWars. Excited yet?https://t.co/NptKzynFET

— BBC Two (@BBCTwo) February 3, 2016

Which leaves one other question unanswered: how can you apply to be in the show? Nothing has been announced yet, but fans can now apply to be in the studio audience by contacting lostintv.com; by emailing info@lostintv.com or by calling 0208 5308 100.

Think you can beat our Robot Wars design? Send us your entries to robotwars@vodzilla.co

We've got our entry for the new Robot Wars sorted. #Deathcart #icrushthereforeiam pic.twitter.com/GjtVO7xDAT

— VODzilla.co (@VODzillaMag) January 13, 2016

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