BBC

BBC
Personal Information
Years Active	1922-Present 1964-Present (BBC2) 1998-2003 (BBC Choice)
BattleBots Information
Seasons	Season 1.0 (BBC2) Season 2.0 Season 3.0 (BBC Choice)
Successor	Spike

The BBC is a British television network which aired the first three televised Comedy Central seasons of BattleBots in the United Kingdom across its channels BBC Two and BBC Choice.

BBC Two began airing Season 1.0 in March 2001, initially alternating between Monday and Sunday timeslots. Archives of the official BattleBots website suggest that episodes premiered on Mondays at 6:45pm, with repeats following on Sundays at 11:35am. From Episode 9 onwards, airings switched to a Saturday afternoon timeslot.

Season 2.0 premiered on the digital channel BBC Choice in August 2001, with episodes airing every weekday at a 19:35 timeslot. Season 2.0 was repeated in full in May 2002, and Season 3.0 followed just weeks after. No further seasons of BattleBots were shown on BBC networks after August 2002 for unknown reasons. Although footage of BBC's BattleBots airings is scarce, a complete upload of the first episode of Season 1.0 exists with an extract of the BBC Two 'Catalyst' ident, also used by the channel at the time of the original Robot Wars run.

With the revival of BattleBots in 2015, the BBC would not show the new seasons in the United Kingdom, with the television channel Spike, then owned by Five, becoming the first distributor of the reboot. Discovery-owned seasons would begin airing in the country in mid-2022, but this time under the ITV-owned channel ITV4.

Televised Seasons

The following seasons of BattleBots have premiered on BBC2 and BBC Choice:

Season	US Premiere	BBC Premiere
Season 1.0	2000	2001
Season 2.0
Season 3.0	2001	2002

Outside BattleBots

BBC Two ident for Robot Wars.

BBC Two

BBC Two (originally styled as BBC2) was launched in April 1964 as a second channel for BBC Television. The channel became renowned for its bespoke idents, which often featured a stylized "2" or "TWO" symbol forming the main part of its identity. BBC Two airs a wide range of content, including comedy, documentaries, gameshows and sitcoms. In 1967, BBC2 notably became the first television channel in Europe to begin regular broadcasts in color.

In 1998, BBC Two became the home for Robot Wars, the British robot combat show adapted by Stephen Carsey and Tom Gutteridge from the original 1994-1997 US events of the same name. A bespoke ident in the shape of the channel's famous 1991-2001 "2" symbol was built by Anthony Pritchard, which was often seen to introduce episodes of Robot Wars.

However, the show was later sold to Channel 5, then known as five, for its seventh and final series before being axed in 2004. Twelve years later, Robot Wars was revived on BBC Two for three additional series along with the two-part Battle of the Stars and World Series specials. The second episode of the World Series featured long-time BattleBots competitor Fuzzy Mauldin of Team Toad, who modified and piloted a loanerbot named Cathadh for the show. The rebooted Robot Wars run helped to establish future BattleBots competitors such as Team Carbide and Team Monsoon, as well as mark the return of veteran teams including Team Razer, Team Make Robotics and Team Hurtz to the UK show following its hiatus. The arena and House Robots for the reboot were built by Robo Challenge, whose members would also compete in the ABC and Discovery BattleBots seasons with Warhead, Beta, Cobalt, and, for the 2019 season onwards, their own machine Quantum.

BBC Choice

BBC Choice was the digital channel launched by the BBC network in September 1998. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, but was closed in 2003 due to low viewing figures and replaced by BBC Three.

Trivia

• Tom Gutteridge would later go on to become an executive producer for BattleBots on Discovery.
• The BBC Two ident for Robot Wars was built by the team captain of 2015 season competitor Radioactive.