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heavyelectricity · 28 days

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Gladiators 2024: The Review

Gladiators 2024 is in the books, and we have our first champions in 15 years! The new series started with high ratings and has continued to deliver throughout its 11 episode run, capturing the imagination of the general public so strongly that a second series has already been commissioned by the BBC.

Now that it's all over, I think it's fair to say that the show has been a creative triumph as well as a ratings hit, running much closer to the glory days of the 1990s ITV run than the disappointing 2008-09 Sky One revival. While it's fresh in the mind, it's a good time to take a look at what the show did right, as well as identifying any weaknesses that can be improved next time around.

The Good

First off, I think the overall look of the show is fantastic. One of the biggest weaknesses of the Sky show was the small studio setting, and thankfully Sheffield Arena gives the feeling of a big time event that Birmingham's National Indoor Arena did back in the day. The set retains plenty of elements of the 90s presentation, like the padded silver platform edges and the big imposing backdrop of The Wall, but with great modern touches like additional projection. I never hated the water element of the Sky show but I don't miss it, and the added pyrotechnics are a nice touch. I can't think of anything I'd change, except for maybe a move to a bigger arena – more on why later.

The presenter duo of Bradley and Barney Walsh have been somewhat divisive among fans, and there are definitely criticisms to be made. Having said that, it's clear that they're excited to be involved and I think that they're both totally fine on interviews, with Bradley's natural charisma and rapport coming through well. Guy Mowbray has been good value on commentary too.

The on-screen graphics all look very nice, and the introductory video packages and recaps of previous shows are a nice way to get to know the contenders. Likewise, the Gladiator intros are useful in familiarising the audience with the new cast, although it's very clear that they've been reused from episode to episode. I also really liked the touch of having all of the Gladiators welcoming the contenders into the final.

The selection of events was pretty much dead on – all of the returning games were top tier choices from the classic series, though they weren't all handled correctly. I think all three new events are worthwhile additions to the roster, with The Edge being the highlight and really the signature game for the modern show. I wasn't sure about it at first because the initial contenders were quite tentative, but once they started to sprint across, I was hooked. The scoring was initially too generous, but the revision to the rules in the semi-finals was perfect.

The Ring is very simple, but I can understand the need for that from a TV production perspective – you do need some low-setup, low-tech events to balance out the more elaborate events. Thankfully it is also very hard-hitting, so it's quite entertaining to watch. As for Collision, some people prefer Hit & Run but I actually prefer the new event, thanks to the greater visual involvement of the Gladiators. The need to carry the ball to score also adds an extra wrinkle to the whole thing.

I think the Gladiators this year mostly did a fantastic job in terms of both gameplay and establishing themselves as personalities. For me, there are a few standouts. Nitro is an absolute all-star – he's very charismatic and he seems to be an incredible all-rounder on the events. Legend's heel schtick is highly entertaining, with “There's no I in team, but there are five I's in individual brilliance” being my favourite line of the entire series. I've become a big fan of Fury – she's relentless whether she's on The Ring, The Edge or Powerball, and has a strong sense of fair play. Dynamite's performances stand out as being particularly impressive given that she's not the biggest of the group.

The standard of the contenders was also very high this year. I couldn't pick between Marie-Louise and Bronte for the women's final, and while I did predict the winner of the men's final, it was closer than I was expecting. There were some absolutely cracking close Eliminators along the way, and very few major mismatches. In most cases, even the lowest-scoring contenders managed to pick up points in the majority of their events.

The Bad

I really hate to say this as I'm a huge fan of Bradley Walsh's work on The Chase, but as good as he and Barney are on interviews, their scripted links have been arguably the weakest aspect of the show. Event introductions have frequently made me cringe, with some lame jokes and banter that comes off as forced. They're so much better when they're just allowed to operate naturally, and I hope that if they return, they'll be given room to play things a bit more off-the-cuff.

One aspect of the presentation that winds me up is an occasional lack of information. The clock is displayed on screen for the full duration of every event except The Ring, during which the timer is only shown for the final ten seconds of the game. Why? That's admittedly a small peeve, but I have a far bigger one – the Eliminator times of runners-up determine progression to the quarter-final and semi-final rounds, but we're never shown them. Since this information is so important, it's really frustrating that we never get to see those times, either via a clock running during the event or a leaderboard at the end of the show.

Of course, that only matters because the structure of the competition was a bit unusual – a factor of the 11-week format. I've got to be honest, as good as the action was, I'm not entirely sold on a tournament format that lets you theoretically lose two episodes in a row and still end up in the semi-finals. Also, the criteria for choosing replacement contenders in the case of injury was not especially transparent – lots of people were confused by the addition of Wesley as a brand new contender in the Quarter-Finals, and it's not entirely clear why Matt was brought back from the heats to replace Chung. Hopefully, next time will have more episodes and a simpler single-elimination tournament structure.

Before the series, I never thought that my criticisms of the events would be about the classics. However, Hang Tough was only featured on three episodes – a crazy low number for one of the most iconic events from the original show. I understand it's because The Edge and Hang Tough can't be set up during the same taping, and I get the need to establish the new event, but let's have a better balance the next time. As for Gauntlet, every single woman scored maximum points and most of the men did too – it's just too easy in its current form. I feel like there's no good reason no to revert to the 1994 rules, with five Gladiators, a 30-second time limit and time-based scoring.

I don't think any of the Gladiators were bad value, and I actually believe that people have been rather unfair to Viper in particular – he's been widely criticised for his performance in events, but in reality his performance has been similar to Wolf's contributions in the original run. The problem is that his villain character isn't quite connecting, and I hope he's allowed to show more personality than “silent and grumpy” if he returns. It's also sad to see that Athena has been given very few one-on-one events and very little interview time, so I hope she gets more focus if she comes back.

Further thoughts

Ulrika Jonsson has complained about the loss of the cheerleaders from the ITV show. I don't particularly miss them, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have them? Also, I'm a huge fan of the event music from the ITV version of the show, and not having such prominent tunes did bug me at first. However, over the course of the series I did become used to it and it's not something I'd look to change now.

Jet has mentioned that she and other past Gladiators would have liked to have been involved in the show, providing colour commentary or some sort of insight. This may be controversial, but I actually think that not including them was the right choice for the first series. The problem with bringing the old favourites back from the start is that you immediately run the risk of overshadowing the new cast, as well as pigeonholing the show as nothing more than a nostalgic product – something I think the show has very successfully avoided, as it's hugely popular with both kids and adults.

Having said that, I do think that bringing them in for a second series would be a good move now that the new cast is established. If the production team can bring back additional classic events, the veterans can speak with authority about what it's like to play them, and young fans can get a glimpse of the people their parents keep mentioning. What's more, if someone like Jet were to come back, it would be nice to have a woman as part of the presenting team, as was the case in the ITV and Sky versions of the show.

I have no doubts over the professionalism of everybody involved in the health and safety aspects of the show, and it was good to see stoppages and such when needed. However, I was quite surprised by the number of equipment malfunctions – lost shoes on The Wall, helmets coming off, all that stuff. There were also plenty of injuries – Comet, Sabre, Finley, Dev, Chung, even Finlay forfeited an event due to being banged up. It's obviously a high-impact show, but hopefully the next series won't be quite like this.

Although the arena used was good for the show, I feel like it may benefit from a move to a bigger venue for the next series. Public interest is sufficiently high I don't think you'd have trouble filling out the seats, and it would give the benefit of increasing the space available for the events - especially if a third event requiring ceiling space is added, since The Edge and Hang Tough should both be prominent.

Wishlist for next series

Three new events, two returning/revised and one new (return preferences: Skytrak, Atlaspheres and Danger Zone)

Gauntlet rules revised

Two to four additional Gladiators

Better utilisation of Viper and Athena

More episodes with a simplified tournament format

More transparency about the competitive aspects of the show

Presenters given either less scripting or better scripting

Fewer injuries!

Final thoughts

As a huge fan of Gladiators since the very first series, I was really apprehensive about the show returning. Would it live up to my expectations? The Sky show never managed to match the ITV run for me, even though I had the good fortune to attend a taping for the second series. Would it hit with the public? I've watched enough worthwhile retro revivals fall flat to know that it was by no means guaranteed.

The new series has exceeded my expectations - I genuinely didn't think it'd be pulled off this well, and I'm so happy the show has been given the revival it deserves. Overall I think the entire team has done a fantastic job, and hopefully it's clear that the criticisms that I've made come don't come from a desire to knock their hard work, but are provided with the most constructive intent. The show was great this year, and I'm confident that a few tweaks will make it even better next time around.

Hope you enjoyed this review - let me know your thoughts, and I'll be back soon with some statistical analysis for the series.

#bbc gladiators #gladiators #gladiators uk #tv review

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