While we’ve got a healthy Terminator, I, Robot and Humans inspired concern for sentience, over intelligence and self reproduction in robotics, we’ve also got an equally unhealthy love for Robot Wars, which will be getting a six-part series reboot in 2016. In addition to confirming the show’s return to BBC 2, we also now know that the presenters will be the colossus of comedy Dara O’Briain along with newcomer Angela Scanlon.
There’s no detailed information about the air date for the reboot’s debut as of yet, but it’s looking likely that it will arrive in 2016 with Mentorn Media taking car of the production. It’s all going to be filmed in a custom built studio in the darker portion of Glasgow and the good news for super fans of the series is that you can apply for tickets to see a show live. All you need to do is visit https://www.lostintv.com/ to put in an application. Alternatively, you can either email info@lostintv.com or call 0208 5308100 to get in on the ground floor for the epic mecha machine action.
For anyone that missed it the first time around it does pretty much what it says on the heavily armoured tin, pitting robots against each other in a Roman gladiator style contest of destruction. Like the last outing for the show, Robot Wars 2016 will see amateur robot creations entering the thunder dome and either going up against a new set of house robots or jousting with one of the other amateur team’s killer machine.
The all-Irish presenter team will see Dara trying his hand at yet another topic having recently helmed everything from The Apprentice: You’re Fired to Stargazing Live and Dara O’Briain’s Science Club. When you see him presenting Mock The Week there’s no indication that the stand-up comedian would be such a science and technology fan, but it’s starting to look like he might be up there with Richard Ayoude for boffin status.
His co-presenter, Angela Scanlon, hasn’t really had any big shows in the UK yet, apart from a stint as fashion adviser on Sunday Brunch, so it will be interesting to see how the stylist and fashion journalist adapts to the intensity of the robot crucible. Having led a campaign for Louis Vuitton in 2013 and hosted the main stage at London Fashion Week three years in a row, she’s had a good amount of experience when it comes presenting, but this has largely been confined to the fashion world. Robot Wars is clearly going to be a significant departure for her, but with Dara as her onscreen co-anchor there’s a lot of support on hand with quick quips and at least a cursory knowledge of the science behind the machines.
In addition to Dara and Angela, the show will also see the return of Jonathan Pearce as the commentator for the matches, having performed the role in all of the previous outings of the show. It should help the show rekindle the spirit of crazed action that it had when Jeremy Clarkson or Craig Charles fronted it back in the late 90’s and early 00’s.
