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Robot Wars: Series 8 (also referred to as Season 8 or the 2016 series) marked the return of Robot Wars to television after a 12-year hiatus. The series was presented by Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon, with Jonathan Pearce returning as commentator. Professor Noel Sharkey returned as a judge, alongside new Judges Professor Sethu Vijayakumar and Lucy Rogers.

The show took place in a new, upgraded Robot Wars Arena. Representing the House Robots, Matilda, Dead Metal, Shunt and Sir Killalot made a return to the arena, having been rebuilt with major upgrades, and appeared in their own promotional teaser trailers. These teasers used the versions of the House Robots that appeared in Robot Wars: The Seventh Wars, rather than their upgraded versions.

The weight allowance for standard heavyweights was increased to 110kg, while the weight limit for walkers was reduced to 135kg, with the series containing 39 heavyweights and one middleweight.[1]

Challenge started showing reruns of Series 8 from 12 November 2018 to 19 November 2018. The series has also enjoyed occasional reruns on BBC Two (most recently between 24 October[2] and 28 November 2020[3]) and periods of availability on BBC iPlayer, most recently until the early morning of 5 November 2021.

As of 2024, the complete Series 8 is available to stream on Mech+ along with Series 9-10, most of the Revival Series specials, and the Classic Series.

History[]

A 2016 series of Robot Wars was first announced online via a BBC News article on the 13 January 2016. It revealed that the BBC, along with Mentorn Scotland, would be shooting 6 episodes in a new, purpose-built, bullet-proof arena in Glasgow. This arena began construction on 18 February 2016.

Shooting of the televised episodes began on 4 March, ending on 14 March. A private filming session was previously held on 29 February, and a pilot episode with a live studio audience was filmed on 1 March.

On 4 May 2016, the Robot Wars website, formerly used for the live events, was taken over by the BBC, and is currently the show's official website.

The first official footage of Series 8 (by then referred to as the "2016 series") was released through three teaser trailers on 25 June 2016. These trailers confirmed the first three competitors in the series; Thor, Sabretooth and Storm 2. On 2 July, a launch trailer released, featuring many of the new and old competitors. A press pack was released on 7 July confirming the rest of the competitors as well as the format of the show and some of the changes made to the House Robots[4].

On 11 July, a short preview, Meet the House Robots, was released on BBC iPlayer. Heat 1 first aired on 24 July 2016, with the Grand Final airing on 28 August. The timeslot for the series was Sunday evenings at 8pm.

Series 8 was re-run on BBC Two over the 2016 Christmas period, airing daily at a 10am timeslot, leading up to the airdate of Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars.

In January 2017, BBC online media officially acknowledged the reboot as "Series 8" of Robot Wars for the first time.[5]

Format[]

The series consisted of six episodes, involving five heats and a Grand Final, with a sixth finalist being chosen as a Wildcard by the Judges. There were eight robots per heat, of the 40 in total.

Four robots fought in each first-round qualifier, dubbed the Group Battles, of which there were two per heat. As with the first-round melees of the Sixth and Seventh Wars, two winning robots from each Group Battle would qualify from this stage. The second round, the Head-to-Heads, used a round robin format, where the four Group Battle qualifiers would all face each other in one-on-one battles, even if they had already met previously. A certain number of points is given to a robot, based on whether it lost (0 points), won via knockout (3 points), or won via Judges' decision (2 points). The two robots with the most points fight again in the Heat Final. In the event of a tie between the second and third-place finishers, the winner from their respective Head-to-Head clash would progress.

The Grand Final followed the same structure as the regular heats, only with three robots in each Group Battle instead of four. Two robots progressed from these and, again, faced-off against each other in Head-to-Head battles. Thee two highest-scoring robots from the latter stage progressed to the final battle of the series.

The nature of this format meant that despite having the joint-fewest episodes of any series and the third-fewest competitors, the eventual Series 8 champion was required to compete in more fights (10) than the winners of any other series (3 in Series 1, 5 in Series 2, 7 from Series 3-7, 7 in Series 10). Series 9 would later repeat the requirement of 10 battles to become champion.

Episodes[]

Heat A[]

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Heat A

Robots Competing: Behemoth, Bonk, Carbide, Kill-E-Crank-E, Nuts, Razer, Terrorhurtz, The General

Group Battles (Round 1)

  • Kill-E-Crank-E vs Nuts vs Razer vs Terrorhurtz: Nuts & Terrorhurtz qualified
  • Behemoth vs Bonk vs Carbide vs The General: Behemoth & Carbide qualified

Head-to-Heads (Round 2)

  • Carbide vs Terrorhurtz: Terrorhurtz won by KO
  • Behemoth vs Nuts: Behemoth won by Judges' decision
  • Behemoth vs Terrorhurtz: Behemoth won by KO
  • Carbide vs Nuts: Carbide won by KO
  • Behemoth vs Carbide: Carbide won by KO
  • Nuts vs Terrorhurtz: Terrorhurtz won by Judges' decision

Heat Final

  • Carbide vs Behemoth: Carbide won

Heat B[]

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Heat B

Robots Competing: Chimera, DisConstructor, Draven, Foxic, M.R. Speed Squared, Shockwave, Thor, Tough as Nails

Group Battles (Round 1)

  • DisConstructor vs Shockwave vs Thor vs Tough as Nails: Shockwave & Thor qualified
  • Chimera vs Draven vs Foxic vs M.R. Speed Squared: Foxic & M.R. Speed Squared qualified

Head-to-Heads (Round 2)

  • M.R. Speed Squared vs Thor: Thor won by KO
  • Foxic vs Shockwave: Shockwave won by KO
  • Shockwave vs Thor: Thor won by Judges' decision
  • Foxic vs M.R. Speed Squared: M.R. Speed Squared won by Judges' decision
  • Foxic vs Thor: Thor won by KO
  • M.R. Speed Squared vs Shockwave: Shockwave won by KO

Heat Final

  • Thor vs Shockwave: Shockwave won

Heat C[]

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Heat C

Robots Competing: Big Nipper, Dantomkia, GlitterBomb, King B Remix, Or Te, Overdozer, Supernova, TR2

Group Battles (Round 1)

  • Dantomkia vs GlitterBomb vs King B Remix vs Overdozer: Dantomkia & King B Remix qualified
  • Big Nipper vs Or Te vs Supernova vs TR2: Big Nipper and TR2 qualified

Head-to-Heads (Round 2)

  • Dantomkia vs King B Remix: Dantomkia won by KO
  • Big Nipper vs TR2: TR2 won by KO
  • Dantomkia vs TR2: TR2 won by KO
  • Big Nipper vs King B Remix: Big Nipper won by KO
  • King B Remix vs TR2: TR2 won by KO
  • Big Nipper vs Dantomkia: Dantomkia won by Judges' decision

Heat Final

  • TR2 vs Dantomkia: TR2 won

Heat D[]

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Heat D

Robots Competing: Apollo, Eruption, Kan-Opener, PP3D, Sabretooth, Storm 2, Sweeney Todd, Terror Turtle

Group Battles (Round 1)

  • Apollo vs Kan-Opener vs PP3D vs Sweeney Todd: Apollo and PP3D qualified
  • Eruption vs Sabretooth vs Storm 2 vs Terror Turtle: Eruption and Storm 2 qualified

Head-to-Heads (Round 2)

  • Apollo vs PP3D: Apollo won by KO
  • Eruption vs Storm 2: Storm 2 won by Judges' decision
  • Apollo vs Storm 2: Apollo won by Judges' decision
  • Eruption vs PP3D: PP3D won by Judges' decision
  • Apollo vs Eruption: Eruption won by KO
  • PP3D vs Storm 2: Storm 2 won by KO

Heat Final

  • Apollo vs Storm 2: Apollo won

Heat E[]

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Heat E

Robots Competing: Beast, Chompalot, Crazy Coupe 88, Gabriel, Infernal Contraption, Ironside3, Pulsar, Thermidor 2

Group Battles (Round 1)

  • Chompalot vs Ironside3 vs Pulsar vs Thermidor 2: Chompalot and Ironside3 qualified
  • Beast vs Crazy Coupe 88 vs Gabriel vs Infernal Contraption: Beast and Gabriel qualified

Head-to-Heads (Round 2)

  • Gabriel vs Chompalot: Gabriel won by KO (After this battle, Chompalot was forced to withdraw, and was replaced by Pulsar)
  • Beast vs Ironside3: Ironside3 won by KO
  • Pulsar vs Beast: Pulsar won by KO
  • Gabriel vs Ironside3: Ironside3 won by Judges' decision
  • Gabriel vs Beast: Gabriel won by KO
  • Ironside3 vs Pulsar: Pulsar won by KO

Heat Final

  • Pulsar vs Gabriel: Pulsar won

Grand Final[]

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Grand Final

Robots Competing: Carbide, Shockwave, TR2, Apollo, Pulsar, Thor

Wildcard Choices

NOTE: The available choices for the Wildcard were the Heat Finalists, Behemoth, Thor, Dantomkia, Storm 2 and Gabriel.

Wild Card: Thor

Group Battles (Round 1)

  • Thor vs TR2 vs Pulsar: Pulsar eliminated
  • Carbide vs Shockwave vs Apollo: Shockwave eliminated

Head-to-Heads (Round 2)

  • Thor vs Carbide: Carbide won by KO
  • TR2 vs Apollo: Apollo won by KO
  • Carbide vs Apollo: Carbide won by KO
  • Thor vs TR2: TR2 won by KO
  • Carbide vs TR2: TR2 won by Judges' decision
  • Apollo vs Thor: Apollo won by KO

Grand Final

  • Carbide vs Apollo: Apollo won

Pilot Episode[]

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Pilot

Before filming of the main series took place, a pilot episode was recorded on March 1st to test the camera equipment, which would never be aired as part of the main series.

Robots Competing: Basher, Ka-Pow!, Merlin, MONTE, Reaper, Tanto, Turbulence, Wraith

Group Battles (Round 1)

  • Basher vs Ka-Pow! vs Tanto vs Turbulence: Ka-Pow! & Turbulence qualified
  • Merlin vs MONTE vs Reaper vs Wraith: Merlin & Reaper qualified

Note: Wraith had technical problems and was forced to withdraw.

Head-to-Heads (Round 2)

  • Turbulence vs Reaper: Turbulence won by KO
  • Turbulence vs Merlin: Turbulence won by Judges' decision
  • Ka-Pow! vs Merlin: Merlin won by KO

Heat Final

  • Ka-Pow! vs Turbulence: Turbulence won

NOTE: Ka-Pow! was put through to this stage due to time constraints

Whiteboard Matches[]

Main article: Robot Wars: Series 8/Whiteboard matches

During the filming of the main series, a number of non-championship battles took place to entertain the audience during filming. These "whiteboard matches" were largely untelevised, with clips sometimes being used in the opening sequence of the show.

Robots Competing: Behemoth, Eruption, Gabriel, Infernal Contraption, Turbulence, Shockwave

  • Eruption vs Infernal Contraption: Eruption won
  • Eruption vs Shockwave: Eruption won
  • Behemoth vs Gabriel: Gabriel won
  • Eruption vs Behemoth: No winner declared
  • Infernal Contraption vs Turbulence: Infernal Contraption won

Withdrawals[]

Conker 3 vs Monitor

Conker 3 appears in Crackers 'n' Smash's VT

Five robots are known to have qualified for the series, but could not compete due to technical difficulties. Prizephita Mk 3 withdrew after an internal fire a week before filming, Armakillo and Doomba withdrew from Heat C on-set, the latter due to faults with its motor controllers[6]. Pod was forced to withdraw from Heat E as it was overweight, and Crackers 'n' Smash withdrew due to it being unfinished. However, footage from the latter's VT segment - featuring Team Conker's featherweight Conker 3 - was still used in the opening sequence for the series.

Television ratings[]

Episode Weekly rating 28 day rating BARB ranking
Heat A 2.58 million 2.76 million 3rd
Heat B 2.34 million 2.42 million 5th
Heat C 1.78 million 1.97 million 12th
Heat D 0.86 million N/A Outside top thirty
Heat E 1.85 million 2 million 17th
Grand Final 1.84 million 1.89 million 10th

Overall, the series' ratings on BBC Two proved to be successful, enticing the BBC to renew the show for another series. Heat A attracted 2.58 million within the first week of its original broadcast, before attracting another 180,000 by twenty-eight days. Henceforth, it became the only episode of Series 8 to rank within the top three highest weekly rated BBC Two shows according to BARB. Sources such as The Guardian stated that Heat A's rating managed to beat the finale of Top Gear, which drew 1.9 million viewers.[7]

However, from Heats C to E, the ratings began to tank due to the broadcasting of highlights of the 2016 Olympics. Heat C did recover by gaining an additional 190,000 viewers by twenty-eight days, more than any other Series 8 episode, to receive 1.97 million viewers overall. Heat D was the worst affected, attracting just 860,000 viewers within a week and becoming the only episode to rank outside the top thirty highest weekly rated BBC Two shows. Nonetheless, ratings started to recover after Heat D, being consistent at around 1.8 to 2 million viewers per episode.

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References[]

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