List of channels that aired reruns of Robot Wars

Following the cancellation of Robot Wars in 2004 that led to the end of the show's original broadcast run across BBC Two and Five, numerous television channels aired reruns of various series of Robot Wars, lasting throughout the hiatus that the show took from 2004 until its revival in 2016. Unlike BBC Two and Five, the rest of the television stations were usually relegated to airing one series and rather than the episodes airing weekly as they had originally, episodes were instead broadcast daily, one episode a day. The times of the reruns varied from channel to channel, ranging from early morning broadcasts to evening broadcasts. The following is a list of channels that were known to have aired reruns of Robot Wars during its 12-year hiatus from television, and subsequent revival between 2016 and 2018.

UK Horizons

UK Horizons, a digital channel operated by UKTV between 1997 and 2004, is the first non-BBC channel known to have repeated episodes of the UK Series. An archived Tinweb forum discussion suggests that repeats of The First Wars were being broadcast on this channel as early as May 1999; according to Pete Collier, the series aired for a total of three hours on Monday 3 May.

Similar repeats continued for future series, with The Fourth Wars premiering on UK Horizons in January 2001, partway through its initial run on BBC Two. Airings were in 7am morning and 6pm evening timeslots. The Robot Wars Magazine suggests that UK Horizons repeats entered a short hiatus at the end of the month, before resuming in March that year.

Jetix

Jetix logo at the time of airing Robot Wars

A European-exclusive children's television channel ran by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Jetix was the first channel to air Robot Wars after its cancellation. Jetix acquired the rights to The Seventh Wars after Five had axed the show following its end, with the reruns coming mere months after original 28 March 2004 ending date. After airing the episodes on the original form on its previous channel identity, Fox Kids, (no relation to the Australian channel of the same name), Jetix significantly altered the airings of Series 7, reducing them down to a 30 minute run time, with almost all of the interviews and side events cut out and even the battles themselves were notably trimmed down. The airings of Series 7 lasted from mid-2004 until the end of 2005, four episodes of the series were also released on DVD as part of newspaper promotions and gifts in magazines.

Sci Fi Channel

Launching in 1995, the Sci Fi Channel (later rebranded Syfy and presently known as Sky Sci-Fi) began as a UK version of the eponymous US cable station, specialising in science-fiction, fantasy and horror-themed programming. Repeats of the original UK Robot Wars, up to and including Extreme 2, were broadcast on the channel during the mid-2000s. Initially, the series was aired in two different morning timeslots; at 6am on weekdays, and at 10am on Saturdays as double bills.

Archived website listings from October 2005 suggest that the Sci Fi Channel aired Extreme 2 as a continuation of The Sixth Wars, though this was not applied to the airings of Extreme 1 which retained the series' separate identity. Episodes of Extreme 2 included the three not originally shown on BBC Two - the University Challenge, the Commonwealth Carnage and the European Championship - while listings for the Robot Rampage referred to it under the alternative title Robotic Rampage.

By June 2006, the air dates for the Classic Series had changed, with individual episodes of The Sixth Wars being shown in a 6am slot on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Challenge

Challenge logo during its first rerun showings

Challenge logo used during the second and third reruns

Challenge logo (2016-present), as used for later reruns until 2018

A television channel primarily focused on airing reruns of classic game show programmes such as Bullseye, Catchphrase and The Crystal Maze, Challenge was perhaps the most recognised channel to air reruns of Robot Wars. Challenge first began its Robot Wars reruns in 2007, airing The Third Wars in a daily block around the middle of the calendar year. Once the Series 3 reruns had concluded, Challenge did not air Robot Wars for seven years.

In May 2014, Challenge started airing repeats of The Second Wars, the episodes initially being shown on a Saturday morning slot (10am and 10:35am) with a second airing the following night. In common with subsequent airings of Series 5-7 and Extreme, the end-of-episode disclaimers and Robot Wars Club promos were omitted, an example being Craig Charles' announcement to viewers at the conclusion of The Making of Robot Wars.

A Challenge ident depicting Shunt and the Robot Wars arena

Challenge would start reruns of Robot Wars for a third and final time between 9 November 2015 and 2018, with the entire Classic Series from Extreme Series 1 until Series 7 all being broadcast in various daytime or early evening slots. These were joined by further re-runs of Series 2 alongside repeats of Series 8, the latter commencing on 12 November 2018. Challenge's re-airings of Robot Wars drew such large viewership that, as part of its 2016 rebrand, the channel introduced an ident featuring interpretations of Shunt and various arena hazards. Though Challenge does not currently show further re-runs of Robot Wars, the latter ident remains in use as of June 2022.

Prior to their association with Robot Wars, Challenge was also initially set to film and broadcast the 2004 FRA (Fighting Robots Association) World Championships, but pulled out shortly before the event's cancellation. Challenge also first showed reruns of Robotica - a similar show to Robot Wars focused around trials in the early-to-mid 2000s which originally aired on TLC.

Bravo 2

Bravo 2 logo at the time of airing Robot Wars

Opening in 2006 and closing down in 2011, Bravo 2 mostly centred around American programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. A few programmes in this category aired by Bravo 2 included Dog the Bounty Hunter, TNA IMPACT! and Monster Jam.

Surviving footage of Bravo 2's re-runs is known to include episodes from the main Fourth Wars, though it is unknown whether any of the Christmas specials were also broadcast.

Dave

Originally launched in 1998 and broadcasting under various names including UK Gold Classics, UK Gold 2 and UK/UK TV G², Dave was rebranded to its current identity on 15 October 2007 and primarily focuses on comedy, light entertainment and factual programming. Between 2010 and 2012, the channel broadcast repeats of both series of Robot Wars Extreme, including the University Challenge, Commonwealth Carnage and European Championship episodes of Extreme 2. In 2024, Dave changed its name to U&Dave.

H2

A rebranded version of A&E Networks channel Military History, the UK version of H2 assumed this identity on 4 May 2013, aligning it with the American network History. Mainly specialising in history, science and technologically-focused programming, H2 aired repeats of Series 3 and 4 beginning in January 2016, the same month that the rebooted series was officially announced.