James R | On 24, Apr 2015

Family Guy is coming back to BBC Two… for now.

Season 13 of Seth MacFarlane’s animated hit, with its signature blend of surreal cut-aways, alcoholic dogs, homicidal babies and orchestra-backed music, follows The Griffins, will air on the BBC Two for the first time in almost 10 years.

Over the years, the series has racked up numerous awards, including an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series and creator and lead actor MacFarlane (voice of Brian Griffin, Peter Griffin and Stewie Griffin) recently received a 2014 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance.

The show will return with a one-hour premiere episode – The Simpsons Guy – which will see two iconic TV families come together, as The Simpsons meets The Griffins.

The show, which is distributed and produced by 20th Century Fox Television, will head to ITV2 later this year, as questions surrounding its former home of BBC Three arose following the BBC’s plan to turn it into an online-only channel. BBC Three has been the British home of the show since 2006. Its move to ITV2 will include MacFarlane’s other animated shows, American Dad, The Cleveland and new series Bordertown.

“We are incredibly proud that the BBC has successfully aired Family Guy for the past nine years and built the series into such a hit in the UK,” said the BBC, when the ITV2 move was announced. “However, when a show becomes so successful it often becomes a target for other broadcasters. We are sorry that it will not have a long-term home on the BBC.”

The BBC Three move, meanwhile, has now been delayed until next year, as the corporation awaits approval from the BBC Trust for its proposals – meaning the planned autumn move will not take place until “after Christmas”.

“Once we have the Trust’s final decision, we’ll start doing more online and in social [media], building up to a move online,” Damian Kavanagh told Broadcast. “You simply can’t turn around something as groundbreaking as this overnight.”

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