Declaration of war
Robot Wars has made a triumphant return to television after 12 years.
The series – which was broadcast on the BBC from 1998 to 2003, then on Channel 5 until 2004 – has been rebooted on BBC Two.
On social media, viewers have welcomed its return, saying the first episode was an “amazing” comeback.
The series, which is filling the Sunday night slot vacated by Top Gear, has followed the old format of teams of engineers doing battle against other robots and House Robots in a special arena.
Forty teams will battle it out over six episodes to become Robot Wars Champion 2016.
While the format is the same, DARA O BRIAIN and ANGELA SCANLON have taken over hosting duties from CRAIG CHARLES and PHILIPPA FORRESTER, the programme’s most famous presenting team.
The robots have also changed as technology has advanced.
The BBC said: “The House Robots are ‘descendants’ of the original show and have been evolved and upgraded to modern-day standards – bigger, stronger and more brutal than ever before!”
O Briain said: “The House Robots grip harder than they used to, they smash further, they move quicker, they are terrifyingly bigger and heavier than the first time round. “But then, aren’t we all?” Robot Wars is known for its devoted fans and Scanlon admitted they do not want to “mess it up”.
ANDREA MCLEAN has said boyfriend Nick Feeney was terrified of meeting her fellow Loose Women panellists.
The star of ITV’s flagship afternoon series opened up about her relationship during an interview with Hello! magazine.
The couple, who have four children from previous marriages between them, were set up on a blind date.
They kept their relationship quiet for a year until going public in 2015.
On the subject of businessman Feeney’s introduction to the other Loose Women, she said: “He was terrified!
“But the ladies were lovely to him, especially Linda Robson, who calls herself Nana Linda and is my surrogate nana.
“She was over the moon and said, ‘I’m so happy you’ve found love again and are being looked after by a nice man’.”
McLean’s first marriage was to childhood sweetheart Nick Green, a TV producer with whom she has a son.
She wed builder Steve Toms, the father of her daughter, in 2009 after working with him on home makeover series Our House.
SIGOURNEY WEAVER says she is hopeful about reprising her role in a new Alien film.
The Hollywood actor, who starred as Ellen Ripley in the original 1979 sci-fi horror and three sequels, said she had discussed a fifth film in the series with director Neill Blomkamp.
Weaver, 66, told an audience at Comic-Con International in San Diego that Blomkamp had pitched the idea while they worked on the 2015 movie Chappie.
She said: “Four months later, I got a script that was so amazing and gives the fans everything they are looking for – plus innovates in a lot of ways.
“(Blomkamp) has work to do, and I have work to do. I am hoping when we finish those jobs, we will circle back and start to do it.”
Weaver told 6,500 fans gathered in San Diego Convention Centre’s Hall-H that she had no interest in an Alien film set on Earth because she thought “Earth was boring”.