Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence the studio was branded as Sound City.
Gladiators is a British television sports entertainment game show, an adaptation of the American programme and its format, American Gladiators, and was produced by LWT for ITV from 10 October 1992 to 1 January 2000, with a revival made for Sky 1 between 2008 and 2009. The programme's format sees four contestants, two male and two female, compete in a series of physical events against the show's "Gladiators", eventually competing in one final event, with contestants aiming to secure a place in the grand final and be crowned champion for their respective series. There was no money rewarded to the winner in any episode, until the final.
American Gladiators is an American competition television program that aired weekly in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The series matched a cast of amateur athletes against each other, as well as against the show's own gladiators, in contests of strength and agility.
For the first series, the show was hosted by Ian Wright and Kirsty Gallacher with original Referee John Anderson returning. For the second series Ian Wright was joined by Caroline Flack due to Kirsty Gallacher not wanting to return. Another change was the removal of John Anderson due to the producers wanting to give the show its own feel and cut ties with the original series. He was replaced by well known boxing referee John Coyle for series two.
Ian Edward Wright, is an English former professional footballer and television and radio personality. He is currently a studio pundit for BBC Sport, ITV Sport and BT Sport.
Kirsty Jane Gallacher is a British television presenter.
Caroline Louise Flack is an English television and radio presenter, actress and model. She began her career starring in Bo' Selecta! in 2002 and has presented various ITV2 spin-off shows such as I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW! from 2009 until 2010 and The Xtra Factor from 2011 until 2013, the latter with Olly Murs (2011–2012) and Matt Richardson (2013).
Series one featured 32 contenders (16 male, 16 female). Men and women competed in separate tournaments, with two men and two women competing in each episode. Contenders took part in events against the Gladiators, trying to earn as many points as possible before the final event, the Eliminator. In that event, each point separating the contenders translated into a half-second advantage. The four events leading up to the final were selected from a total of eleven events.
The grand prize in Series 1 was £50,000 per winning contender.
Changes from the original series
The show featured a lineup of new Gladiators, with new costumes. However, Amazon, Panther, Siren and Warrior share names with gladiators from the original UK series and several others share names with those from international series. Many of the Gladiator costumes were noticeably more revealing than in the original series, with male Gladiators Atlas and Oblivion in particular wearing very little.
Due to Sky1's greater advertising requirements, and contestant interviews prior to each of the events starting, the number of events before the Eliminator was cut from five to four.
The new Gladiators studio set meant that there was only room for 11 events, 9 events from the original series: Duel, Gauntlet, Hang Tough, Hit & Run, Powerball, Pursuit, Pyramid, The Wall and Suspension Bridge. The two new events were Earthquake and Rocketball, which originated in the first and second American Gladiators series respectively.
American Gladiators is an American competition TV show that aired on NBC and Citytv in Canada. Hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali, the show matches amateur athletes against each other and the show's own "gladiators" in contests of strength, agility, and endurance. It is a remake of the original series of the same name which ran from 1989–1996, with elements of the UK version of the 1990s. The show is refereed by Al Kaplon, a former American League umpire, who can also be seen as the referee in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Play-by-play narration is handled by Van Earl Wright.
Notable changes from the original series include Duel, Hang Tough, Hit & Run, Pursuit and Suspension Bridge now being played over water. The revised Eliminator featured a swimming section, a climb to the top of the Pyramid and (for series 2) two Travelators.
A man-mountain with brute force. As frightening to look at as he is unstoppable. Contenders will always be in his shadow – because his shadow’s so big!
A savage beast who takes no prisoner. A Warrior in name and nature with a fearful battle cry.
Leader of the pack
Wolf (who featured in all eight series of the original Gladiators) returned to be – 'The Leader of the Pack' – of the Gladiators. He featured in all episodes of series 2. His real name is Michael Van Wijk.
Michael Van Wijk is an English bodybuilder, professional sportsman, canal swimmer, actor and TV presenter. Born in Bombay, India, Van Wijk is most well known for his role as Wolf on British TV endurance sports game show Gladiators, a role he held for seven years, eight series (1992-1999). Wolf was a villainous character who routinely displayed poor sportsmanship, and he was referee John Anderson's nemesis, similar to a heel in professional wrestling. He appeared in Londons Burning series 3 episode 5 Van Wijk owns a gym called "Wolf's Gym" in Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand, where he now resides.
David Staff is an English footballer, born in Market Harborough, who played in the Football League for Boston United. He is currently player manager at Stamford AFC.
All the music to the new series was specially composed by British composer Paul Farrer also known for his music for The Weakest Link and Dancing on Ice. Other artists' music has been used in certain events.
Injuries
Series One
According to reports, at least one contestant has had to withdraw from the opening episode, while one of the Gladiators slipped on a bridge and had to leave the set. Another Gladiator had a stomach bug and Enigma suffered from an injured ankle. In addition, Enigma was involved in an incident on Gauntlet where a contender kicked a ram rod into her face, resulting in a confrontation and the contender being disqualified. Contenders also suffered injuries including a broken toe suffered by Nicola Trench, a damaged knee suffered by Gavin Sunshine, a neck injury, as well as Greg Kirk suffering a broken arm in the quarter finals. One contender, Gavin Sunshine, was so badly injured that he refused to start after his whistle and the other contender won the show by default.
Sky1 responded to say that health and safety is their number one issue, and they want to minimise the injuries, but pointed out that; "This is Gladiators - a tough physical show for athletes. It's not Family Fortunes!" [2]
Series Two
In the second episode of "Gladiators: The Legends Strike Back" female legend Scorpio suffered an ankle fracture while participating in The Wall.[3]
In the fourth episode a female contestant, Gemma Green had to pull out due to sustaining a knee injury just before the Eliminator. David Staff broke his nose during the semi-finals while on Earthquake with Doom. However he went on to score points. He later went on to win the eliminator and eventually went on to win the series as Male champion. He also competed on the champion of champions special, aired on 5 April 2009, and won. Also Gladiator Warrior sustained an injury to his face where his eye was bleeding during gauntlet and was taken off and fellow gladiator “The Big O” Oblivion took his spot.
Gladiators G-Zone
Originally advertised as Gladiators: G-Force, this short ten-minute program profiled a selection of the gladiators, including Spartan, Panther and Atlas. With a 2min profile of Oblivion, not previously shown, appearing as part of a repeat run.
Cancellation
In May 2009, Sky1's director of programmes Stuart Murphy announced that Gladiators was to be axed. Speaking to Broadcastnow, Murphy said, "Gladiators has done a great job for Sky 1 over two seasons, resonating with our young audience and showcasing our entertainment credentials. But now we need to prioritise and allow for both new entertainment formats and genres not recently seen on Sky 1 such as comedy."[1]
Battle Dome was a syndicated American television series that aired from September 1999 to April 2001. It combined elements of American Gladiators – inspired athletic competition with scripted antics more reminiscent of professional wrestling. Recurring character-athletes known as "Warriors" competed against weekly contestants in a variety of physically demanding events. The series was filmed at the Los Angeles Sports Arena and produced by Columbia TriStar Television.
Gladiators is an Australian television series which aired on Saturday nights on the Seven Network from 29 April 1995 until 12 October 1996 almost consecutively for eighteen months. It was based on the popular franchise which started with American Gladiators in 1989. However the Australian show was more heavily based on the UK version with events, format and even music being used from the British show. It was revived in 2008.
International Gladiators 2 was the second international competition of the Gladiators franchise, consisting of seven episodes. The series was filmed at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham during 1995. Six countries were represented, including United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Russia, Australia, and South Africa. This was the first series to feature the latter three countries, while Finland, who competed in the first International series, did not return for the second competition. While United Kingdom, United States and Australia all had their own domestic series, and sent champion contenders as well as carefully selected Gladiators, the other three countries did not have their own domestic series at the time of filming, although this was not indicated on screen. A total of thirty-six Gladiators competed across the series. This series became known as the 'season of injury', with five out of the six contender stables suffering from injuries prior to or during competition. The only country not to be affected by contender injuries was the United States.
Gladiators is a sports entertainment television show that was an international success during the 1990s and early 2000s with versions of the show being filmed for local broadcasters in the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Nigeria, and Denmark. However, Russia, Germany, and the Bahamas would also compete in international shows during the series, despite the fact that they did not have their own domestic series.
Gladiators was an Australian television series which aired on the Seven Network in 2008. It was a revival of the earlier series of the same name, and was based on the American version of the show, which was also revived in 2008.
The second series of Gladiators started in December 2008 with a Legends Special. The series aired on Sky1 and Sky1 HD. Many changes were made from the first series, including six new gladiators - Cyclone, Siren, Amazon, Warrior, Goliath and Doom. Three more games were added to the event pool - Pursuit & Suspension Bridge, which were seen in the ITV version of the show, and Rocketball. Ian Wright returned as presenter with Caroline Flack, who replaced Kirsty Gallacher. Taking over from original referee John Anderson was boxing referee John Coyle.
The first series of Gladiators began airing on Seven Network on 29 April 1995 following successful versions of the Gladiators format in United States, United Kingdom and Finland. The series closely resembled the UK series albeit with just four events and the Eliminator.
The second series of Gladiators began airing on Seven Network on 2 September 1995.
The third series of Gladiators began airing on Seven Network on 13 April 1996.
Gladiators: Train 2 Win is a children's spin-off of the British television series Gladiators. Aired on ITV, the series featured younger contestants playing adapted versions of the games featured in the parent series, all while being mentored and assisted by a captain Gladiator. Four series of the programme were broadcast, airing from 2 September 1995 to 13 March 1998.
This was the only series of Gladiators in which there were no changes to the gladiator line up. As such there were no changes to the starting credits and, despite the series popularity, there were no new photoshoots for promotional materials with the photography from the 1993 series re-used for the programmes and merchandise.
There were a number of changes to the Gladiator line up this season. Raider was dropped after one season. Whilst no explanation was given for his axing, he was the first Gladiator to have received a red card. Jet retired following an injury on Pyramid during live shows played at Wembley during Easter 1996. Three new Gladiators were recruited for the 1996 series with all of them appearing in the Wembley live shows prior to the televised series; Ace, Rio and Rebel.
This series saw the Gladiator line up increase to 14 with Falcon, Hunter, Nightshade, Trojan and Zodiac joining. Flame, Hawk and Phoenix were axed following the results from a fan poll, and this series sees the first appearance of assistant referee/timekeeper Andrew Norgate. All of the Gladiators received new outfits with the Gladiators appearing in more post event interviews and interviewing as themselves rather than attempting to adopt a persona.
The most notable change in the show's line-up was the departure of co-host John Fashanu. Fashanu had been accused in a football match fixing controversy the previous year, whilst the fifth series aired on ITV, and the producers chose not to renew his contract. He was replaced for this series by England rugby union player Jeremy Guscott.
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