Finally, at long last, all of our collective robot dreams have come true. There is joy across the television landscape today with the news that Robot Wars is returning to the BBC for the first time since 2004. Full disclosure…I loved this show when it was originally broadcast with Craig Charles (Red Dwarf, Coronation Street) Phillipa Forrester! Thankfully, I never saw the first series with former Top Gear host, Jeremy Clarkson as the original presenter.

One can only hope that we might see the return of the likes of Sir Killalot, Sgt Bash, Shunt and Razer. Sadly, one has to come to the realization that a return of Matilda just isn’t in the cards after her demise at the hands of Razer over a decade ago.

The original format for Robot Wars featured two teams of amateur enthusiasts who built their own robots, a.k.a. robotic fighting battle machines, and then marched them into a battle for supremacy all the while keeping an eye out for the ‘house robots’. The iconic series will be back on BBC2 with a new set of six hour-long episodes, and is said to feature more complex robots using technology that has developed over the past 12 years.

If that isn’t enough to get you to clear some space on your DVR, the new Robot Wars will be filmed in a ‘bullet-proof’ purpose-built arena in Glasgow, with the audience brought closer to the destructive machines using state-of-the-art cameras capable of capturing every crushing, sawing and scorching moment in incredible detail.

An ecstatic Kim Shillinglaw, Controller of BBC2 and BBC4, said: “Robot Wars is an absolute TV classic and I’m thrilled to be updating it for the next generation of viewers. With new technological advances making for an even more exciting and immersive experience this is a fantastic example of the kind of content-rich factual entertainment that BBC Two excels at.”

Not sure of the necessity for a ‘bullet-proof’ arena, but a lot has changed since the old days of destroying your competitor by flipping them over, setting fire to them and then shoving them into the Pit of Oblivion. Fun, huh?

In: Drama