Bill Hobbins is an English television director, producer and editor who was the lead series producer for the original run of Robot Wars, barring Series 1 and 2.
Robot Wars[]
- "It's my job to set the whole thing up in pre-production, work to make the production. Then when it's happening, solve any problems that may come along."
- — Bill Hobbins interviewed in the Robot Wars Magazine
Bill Hobbins at the time of Series 6
Bill Hobbins became involved with Robot Wars in Series 3, replacing Stephen Carsey as the lead series producer. Hobbins' role on the show was to set everything up pre-production and then control the production when the cameras began filming. In an interview with the Robot Wars Magazine, Bill explained that the pre-production would take up to three days to prepare and the filming would take up to five days, this being down to any problems that may come up that would need to be addressed before filming could continue.
Bill Hobbins in the Robot Wars Magazine
After the recordings had finished, Hobbins and his production crew were in charge of editing the footage into the show that was seen on television, which he admitted would take almost a full week to complete due to working on other programmes in between. Hobbins believed that the process of production worked well as there was a large amount of people working together to create an atmosphere for the audience.
Bill Hobbins appearing on camera in The First World Championship
- "Robot Wars is an entertainment show, yes, but it's much more than that. Viewers watching the show might not realise what goes on here at the location, but for all those people that make up the live audience, it's our intention to make an experience. That's why all of this is here"
- — Bill Hobbins on the production of Robot Wars
Bill Hobbins (bottom) directing for the Hypno-Disc Ultimate Warrior Collection DVD
He also believed that Robot Wars was not a violent show as no one was getting hurt and described it as 'comic and theatrical violence'.
- "Robot Wars absolutely isn't a violent show. It's comic violence, theatrical violence, and a world away from anything that's happening in the world outside of RAF Newton where we film"
- — Bill Hobbins on Robot Wars' genre
Bill Hobbins being interviewed by Bridget Maasland in Robot Wars: The Kick-Off
As the series producer, Bill Hobbins did not have an on-screen role. However, he did make a cameo appearance in The First World Championship, where he announced that Mauler was to be disqualified from the competition as its weaponry was deemed too dangerous for the arena, unfortunate news he shared with the Mauler team directly.
Hobbins was also interviewed by Bridget Maasland in the one-off Dutch special Robot Wars: The Kick-Off. Here, he explained the UK version's popularity to Maasland, along with the rules and core arena hazards.
Due to leaving the BBC in 2015, Bill Hobbins was not involved in the production of the rebooted series of Robot Wars that was announced only one year later, with his position as series producer instead going to Matt Wilkinson.
Outside Robot Wars[]
Bill Hobbins is skilled in all forms of television production, producing a wide variety of different genres and has over thirty years experience in the industry, working for some of the largest media companies in the UK.
Hobbins produced a variety of television programmes for the BBC including Today's the Day, The Ministry Of Curious Stuff, Horrible Histories and Scrapheap Challenge. Hobbins was even nominated for a BAFTA award in 2000 for his work on Robot Wars and also won an International Emmy award.
In 2015, Bill Hobbins left the BBC and moved to Sky as the lead commissioning editor for non-scripted TV shows. More recently in 2021, Hobbins would move from Sky to Chalkboard TV, where he currently works as the lead creative director.
Trivia[]
- Bill Hobbins was part of The Steering Committee.
- Bill Hobbins often contributed to the publishings of the first run of the Robot Wars Magazine, as evidence by his name being credited under the "contributions" section of the magazine credits.
- According to the Robot Wars Magazine, Bill Hobbins' first job was as a runner on Red Dwarf, which starred Robot Wars presenter Craig Charles.