- "As I competed in Robot Wars Series II, I thought it (would be) a good idea to add an ident to the BBC 2 set involving Robot Wars"
- — Anthony Pritchard on BBC 2 Ident's inspiration
BBC 2 Ident was a robot that was used as the official ident for BBC Two when broadcasting earlier series of Robot Wars. The robot was constructed by Team Make Robotics, the same team who built Behemoth and Anty B, as a side project.
The BBC 2 Ident would first be shown in one ident in Series 3, showcasing its weapons. Another ident would later show BBC 2 Ident inside the Pinball arena, with Sir Killalot nearby. A third ident consisted of Philippa Forrester introducing the show, with BBC 2 Ident driving into view shortly after. A fourth ident was showcased during the broadcast of the Southern Annihilator, involving a special introduction featuring Julia Reed on a workbench pushing the machine away as it drove in front of her.
In addition to these idents, BBC 2 Ident made various cameo appearances throughout the original series itself, notably The First World Championship, the International League Championship and the aforementioned Southern Annihilator. During these cameos, it was present on a workbench in The Pits, sometimes alongside Behemoth and Team Make Robotics themselves. BBC 2 Ident also attended the Robot Mayhem event - acting as the qualifiers for Series 4 - as a static exhibit.[1]
In addition to BBC 2 Ident, regular BBC Two idents from the 1991-2001, 'Personality' and 'Curve' packages were used with themes unrelated to Robot Wars; among those from the former including "Blade",[2] "Car"[3] and "Fish".[4] Usage of BBC 2 Ident in promotions and continuity was reduced over the course of the Classic Series' run, with the associated idents likely being dropped with the introduction of the 'Personality' idents in November 2001.
Design[]
- "By using the 2 as the base I took various parts from the show's House Robots."
- — Anthony Pritchard on BBC 2 Ident's design
BBC 2 Ident in The Pits with Philippa Forrester
The insides of BBC 2 Ident
BBC 2 Ident was a multi-coloured robot whose design used a metal BBC Two '2' logo as a base. The logo design was based on that introduced with the channel's 1991-2001 ident package, which was in use by the time Robot Wars originally premiered on UK television. It was armoured in 3mm aluminium checker plate, 1mm aluminium sheet and styrene. The robot was armed with various weapons, including a servo-operated front bucket, a flamethrower and a rear arm with a cutting disc made out of two CDs combined together.
BBC 2 Ident was based on the House Robots from Series 2, featuring components and weapons from all five. These included Dead Metal's disc, Matilda's horns, Sgt. Bash's sides, wheels and flamethrower, Shunt's scoop and exhaust, and Sir Killalot's mesh and top spikes. BBC 2 Ident was eventually completed after Series 2.
Gallery[]
Outside Robot Wars[]
Although it has not competed in any battles, BBC 2 Ident has appeared at various live events along with Behemoth, as a static display item, most notably at a Robots Live! event in Team Make Robotics' hometown of Hemel Hempstead in 2007.