Robot Wars (TV series)

Robot Wars is a robot combat competition that was broadcast on British television from 1998 to 2004 and again from 2016 to 2018. The series, centred on the sport of robot combat, involves teams of amateur and professional roboteers operating their own constructed remote controlledrobots to fight against each other, whilst also avoiding arena hazards and more powerful "House Robots", which were not bound by the same weight or weapon limits as the contestants. Earlier series included assault and trial courses for competing robots before they were ceased from the first "Extreme" series onwards.

The show was first broadcast on BBC Two from 20 February 1998 to 23 February 2001, on BBC Choice from 8 October 2001 to 7 February 2003 (later repeated on BBC Two), on Channel 5 from 2 November 2003 to 28 March 2004 before being revived in 2016 and broadcast on BBC Two from 24 July 2016 to 7 January 2018. To date, the show has been broadcast as 10 main series each centred around a single competition, two "Extreme" series with several unconnected events and several special episodes.

Jeremy Clarkson presented the first series, with "Master of Mayhem" Craig Charles taking over for the second to seventh series. Philippa Forrester co-hosted the first three series, the fifth and Extreme 2. Forrester also hosted the spin-off series Robot Wars Revealed from 1998 to 1999. The fourth series and Extreme 1 were co-hosted by Julia Reed and the seventh by Jayne Middlemiss.Jonathan Pearce provided commentary for all series. The revived series were hosted by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon.

Additional series were filmed at the UK venue for specific sectors of the global market, including two series of Robot Wars Extreme Warriors with American competitors for the TNN network (hosted byMick Foley with Rebecca Grant serving as pit reporter), two of Dutch Robot Wars for distribution in the Netherlands and a single series for Germany. The fourth series of the UK Robot Wars was shown in the US on TNN as Robot Wars: Grand Champions in 2002 and hosted by Joanie Laurer.

Its merchandising was commercially successful, being one of the most popular selling toy ranges in 2002 produced by Logistix Kids. It included a mini arena, pullback, friction and ripcord toys and radio-controlled versions of the House Robots.

In 2003, the roboteers themselves formed The Fighting Robot Association and with their associated event organizers, carry on participating in competitions for new audiences. 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.

With a peak audience of six million viewers in the UK during the late 1990s, the format went on to become a worldwide success, showing in 45 countries including the US, Australia, Canada, China, India, Germany and Italy. In March 2003, it was dropped by BBC Two after eight series and Mentornannounced it was making 22 episodes for Channel 5, concluding with The Third World Championships broadcast in March 2004. Channel 5 later axed the show after one series due to low ratings.

In July 2016, the show returned to BBC Two with a new arena, house robots and presenters. The first episode was well received becoming the top trending topic on Twitter that evening and having two million viewers, more than the last episode of the 23rd series of Top Gear in the same 8pm Sunday slot just a few weeks earlier. The revived show ran for three series, before it ended in March 2018.

Segments Alluded

 * Robot Wars