TV4

TV4
Current TV4 Logo
Channel Information
Years Active	1990-present
Robot Wars Information
Market	Sweden
UK Series	3-4 (Swedish Dub)
Successor	TV6

TV4 is a Swedish free-to-air television network which was responsible for airing the Swedish dubs of Series 3 and 4 of Robot Wars.

History

TV4 was launched in September 1990 by TV4 AB, a subsidiary of the Bonnier Broadcasting Group. The channel debuted by investing in an extensive news organisation and Swedish drama series. Unfortunately, these series were poorly received by critics and the premiere itself was plagued by technical issues. A year later in 1991, the Swedish version of Jeopardy! and Swedish original show Bingolotto began airing, the latter of which became highly popular. 1991 was also the year TV4 was allowed to begin broadcasting terrestrially. By 1994, the channel had become largest in Sweden.

These days, TV4 airs a variety of programmes such as news, sports, soaps, sitcoms, films, documentaries and phone-in shows.

Robot Wars

TV4's airing of Series 3 Heat K, note the Swedish subtitles

TV4 picked up the rights to begin airing Swedish dubs of Robot Wars in the early 2000s, and while their airing of Series 3 was simply the original BBC airing with Swedish subtitles, TV4 changed this for its airing of Series 4. TV4 programme director Eva Swartz contacted Micke Dubois to offer him the job of presenter ahead of the Series 4 dub, with Micke gladly accepting, having seen the show before. Formula 1 commentator and TV4 personality Janne Blomqvist joined Dubois as co-presenter, to accommodate a Swedish-speaking audience.

In their main role as co-presenters, Dubois and Blomqvist appeared together in specially-filmed links unique to the TV4 version, also providing commentary in place of Jonathan Pearce. Unlike most other international dubs, however, most English-speaking segments from the original UK version retained their original audio with Swedish subtitles, including onscreen appearances by Craig Charles and Julia Reed, and arena announcements by Stuart McDonald. Other elements of the show's presentation, including battle and statistic boards, also remained in English.

Micke Dubois and Janne Blomqvist presenting TV4's dub of Series 4

Dubois would also conduct interviews with roboteers, presenters and backstage crew - pieces which were filmed solely for this version of the show. These would usually be aired prior to the Heat Semi-Finals and/or Heat Final, in some cases replacing the equivalent pre-battle interviews conducted by Reed in the UK version. Due to TV4 buying the rights sometime after Series 4 was filmed and broadcast in the UK, the unique backstage segments for Series 4 were filmed during Series 5 and Extreme 1, which were the most recently-aired series in the UK at the time of TV4 acquiring the rights. TV4's airings of Series 4 did not feature the Pinball Warrior Tournament and Sumo Basho events, likely to make room for Dubois' backstage pieces.

Alongside the main Series 4, it is known that three of the Christmas Specials - the Northern/Southern Annihilators and the War of Independence - were also televised by TV4 with the above changes.

Though TV4 would no longer air Robot Wars after Series 4, TV6 would pick up later series of the show, up to the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. Not to be confused with TV4, TV6 was owned by a different company, and therefore did not feature Micke Dubois or Janne Blomqvist, or any unique backstage segments.

Executive producer for TV4 Åsa Sjöberg expressed interest in a Swedish series of Robot Wars, which was mentioned to be in development as late as September 2002. However, this never came to fruition.

"There is a goal to eventually make an all-Swedish version of the robot program, but there are no concrete decisions in the current situation either. It is a dream we have, and an idea that we really believe in"

— Åsa Sjöberg speaking in 2001, translated from Swedish to English

External Links

• TV4 on Wikipedia