Yahoo News ‘Blue Planet III’ & ‘Gladiators’ Reboot Greenlit By BBC – Edinburgh TV Festival
Blue Planet III and Gladiators are coming to the BBC. The Junior Eurovision Song Contest will also air on the network for the first time.
The Sir David Attenborough-presented landmark was revealed at the Edinburgh TV Festival this afternoon by BBC commissioners, described as “using the very latest in underwater filming techniques to reveal brand new and untold stories from magical underwater worlds.”
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The show from the prestigious BBC Studios Natural History Unit will take on the legacy of 2017’s Blue Planet II, which led to a sea change in plastics pollution and the perception of life in our oceans. Blue Planet II was one of the most-viewed BBC shows of the decade, coming a few years after the first Blue Planet.
The third series will focus on the five major underwater habitats: the Tropical Seas; Temperate Seas; Polar Seas; High Seas; and Deep Seas, while the sixth episode will discover how seas are changing. Show was commissioned by Jack Bootle, BBC Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual. Executive Producer is Mark Brownlow.
Meanwhile on the BBC docs slate, deaf Strictly Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling-Ellis is behind Signs for Change (working title), revealing the daily challenges, discrimination and barriers faced by deaf individuals as the EastEnders star explores positive movements for societal change and questions whether society is adapting fast enough.
Following a whirlwind year, Ellis is delivering tomorrow’s Alternative MacTaggart at the Edinburgh Television Festival.
Finally, box-set series Spy Wars: The Eighties, also from BBC Studios, will tell the hidden story of the real-life spies and traitors embroiled in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse during the Cold War.
Gladiators
The BBC also used Edinburgh to confirm the Gladiators reboot after more than 20 years.
MGM Studios’ gameshow, co-produced with Hungry Bear Media, will include new games alongside classic challenges, culminating at the end of each episode with fan favourite The Eliminator.
Based on U.S. format American Gladiators, the cult hit ran on ITV from 1992 to 2000 and was briefly revived by Sky in 2008.
Filming will take place in Sheffield next year.
“Gladiators is back and a whole new generation of viewers can now look forward to watching a Saturday night spectacle like no other,” said Kate Phillips, BBC Director of Unscripted.
The move comes with reboots in UK TV in the spotlight. Channel 4 Chief Content Officer Ian Katz and former Channel 4 CEO David Abraham both described the current situation with reboots as “depressing” following the return of the likes of Gladiators, Big Brother and Survivor.
And the BBC will also air the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, as it prepares to host the main contest due to Ukraine’s being unable to do so.
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