The Gladiators reboot, which has proved a huge hit for the BBC, has been handed a second season.
Ahead of this weekend’s final, the BBC said its first episode is now its biggest entertainment launch for nearly a decade and has almost reached 10M viewers after 28 days.
The first series hosted by Bradley and Barney Walsh has seen 16 new superhuman Gladiators: Sabre, Legend, Nitro, Diamond, Phantom, Athena, Bionic, Fire, Giant, Dynamite, Viper, Electro, Apollo, Comet, Steel and Fury quickly become household names as viewers cheer on favorites as they compete against contenders in iconic events such as duel and powerball, culminating in the iconic eliminator.
Gladiators was a hit for ITV in the 1990s but hadn’t been on British screens for nearly 25 years apart from a brief return in 2008. The commission came alongside a string of reboots that have garnered varying degrees of success including Big Brother, Survivor and Deal or No Deal.
“Gladiators has really kicked this year off with a bang, and we’re so delighted that the fans have come to the show in their masses,” said BBC entertainment boss Kalpna Patel-Knight.
The UK series was produced by Hungry Bear Media and Amazon’s MGM Alternative UK, while the American original was created by Johnny C. Ferraro and Dan Carr. EPs are Dan Baldwin and Lou Brown for Hungry Bear and Dom Bird and Barry Poznick for MGM Alternative. The commissioning editor for the BBC is Clodagh O’Donoghue.