Gladiators

STAR RATING: ***** Jodie Marsh **** Michelle Marsh *** Kym Marsh ** Rodney Marsh * Hackney Marsh

Gladiators was a hugely popular show at weekends on ITV when I was a bit younger. It was even filmed in my home city (Birmingham) and (cringe!) I actually remember going to see it with my family. As a younger viewer, it has a certain appeal but seeing it endlessly churned out nowadays on Challenge TV I am only able to see it for the rather corny and cheesy show it is.

For some kids in the early 90s, the 'gladiators' with their superhero names (e.g. Panther, Saracen, Wolfman) and larger than life physiques must have seemed like great role models to look up to until the penny dawned and it became clear that many of them were just pumped up steroid abusers and in fact one or two even got found out and were penalized by the show's producers. The corniest character being the 'wolfman' who would frequently shock by getting aggressive with contestants or referee John ('contender reeeeeeeeady!!! Gladiator reeeeeeeeeeeeady!!! Three two one......wheeeeeeeeep!!!') Anderson before he did it so often it ended up becoming clear that it was all for show and the whole thing was basically just set up. The very premise of the show, wherein the main eventers were selected because of their 'ability' to carry on training for long periods of time without stopping and taking a break was rubbish because obviously the human body (male or female) can only carry on training for so long before they have to stop for a bit or risk dehydration, spraining ligaments or whatever.

As a kid, the show had appeal, but as many other reviewers have noted, 15 or so years on you can just see it in it's true colours, cheesy, corny and now even a little dated. Amazingly it ran from 1992 to 2000 when really everyone had become disillusioned and bored with it around 1995. **

If there's one thing I loved about this programme, it was the atmosphere in this studio, which was often fantastic. The games were great to watch, and with an extensive list of gladiators everyone will have had their favourites.

Sadly, the show got a bit repetitive later on in the run, with no fresh challenges and seemingly samey format, but it still entertained on the odd occasion. It had a good run, it was always an adrenaline packed show with a clash of dozens of personalities. Who can forget Wolf's antics, Shadow's (almost) unbeaten Duel run or John Anderson's piercing voice? The original run lasted, only just into 2000, with the last ever episode going out on New Year's Day. For me, it will forever conjure positive and nostalgic memories.

Having not seen the new series (due to lack of Sky One), I cannot pass judgement on the revamped version, though if the original was anything to go by it should be worth a look.

Gladiators was one of quite a few TV programmes that were perfect for Saturday night television in the UK.

Unfortunately, the 1990's are over, and the one surviving programme from this era - 'You've Been Framed' - is the one we all wish was axed before the others.

Jim Davidson's 'Big Break', followed by his 'Generation Game', with 'Noel's House Party', 'Bullseye', the excitement with the intro of the 'National Lottery' in 1994, along with 'Gladiators' were perfect for Saturday nights. They were rubbish at times, repetitive, yes... however the light, chicken Nugent entertainment was perfect for everyone to wind down to after a tough week.

In this era even 'Grandstand' was worth watching! However, looking at Saturday Night TV now is very depressing - on the odd night I'm in I struggle to find decent Saturday Night Entertainment, and often end up watching a DVD.

I'm not saying bring Gladiators back, but this formula was successful for drawing a wide audience.

The mid-1990's was the peak for Saturday night TV as a whole, at the moment it is on a rapid decline.

Two men and two women compete against same sex gladiators in a series of physical challenges. Points are awarded for different levels of achievements in each game. At the end of the show points are converted to time, with the most points giving one contestant a head start over an assault course (The Gauntlet), the winner in each sex went through to the next round of shows leading to the grand final.

Once this was an original idea - game shows with real physical competition! Real people facing off against larger than life Gladiators. This allowed the competition to be intense and exciting, allowed for the Gladiators to be characters and over react to everything - treating every game like it was the World Cup Final! For a while it worked, we forgot that the Gladiators were steroid pumped and really lacked character, and we forgot that the games were a bit daft and were pretty much the same every week. As a bit of Saturday night entertainment it was up against the unbeatable (at the time!) Noel's House Party and actually did pretty well. And of course we all pretended that we watched it for the competition and not to see beautiful women, sweating in small shorts!

However as the years went on the presenters became less capable, the Gladiators were revealed as basically pantomime dames with muscles and the games became either tired (due to endless repetition) or silly (as they searched for new ideas). Now (2002) the idea of fighting as a game show has been done so many times (with paintball, with robots etc) that it no longer has a novelty value.

Overall it was OK at the start but quickly became camp and uninteresting - how many times can you watch Wolf shouting at a referee before being ejected from the game with an air of daftness. Gone and forgotten!

When this series was first advertised back in 1992, I honestly didn't know what to think. It looked like a bunch of oiled up men and women wrestling and pushing their chests out.

However my mind was changed after watching the first episode. It was something I had never seen the likes of before. Action, entertainment, funny, sad and so much more. Gladiators was everything a Saturday Night TV show should be and it remained this Way for 8 seasons! Gladiators came and went, some good some bad some already famous in their own right. All in all over the 8 years the show had a total of 34 Glads (I would list them all and show what a geek I am, but I don't want to bore you all!). Quite a big turnover for any show, but it was good to see new faces, this was dismissed by some fans but I though it was a good thing! At its peak in 1995, this is a show that was pulling in 15 million viewers, those of you who keep a eye on viewing figures will know thats unheard off these days. It was massive not only in the UK, but overseas with several countries making their own versions (Australia, South Africa and Finland to name a few). As well as this the UK series had many spin offs including 2 International Series, 2 Ashes Series, 2 Springbok Series and 4 Train to Win series (Junior Version). This obviously shows how big it was at one time! However the shows downfall in my view, and a few others I have talked to started in 1997 when things started to get a bit sloppy. Poor new events, to many new Glads, same events week in week out, as much as it pains me to say this about a show i adore it was getting stale. However 1998 was the clincher and the nail in the coffin. It was obviously decided a change was needed and some new factors were borough in, 3 new events instead of only 1 like the past few years, new costumes for the Glads, new behind the scenes footage etc but this was hated by the majority of fans and didn't work whatsoever! This was simply the end.

The problem was the changes were left too late to make a impact, after 6 years, the die hard fans had become used to things being a certain way, the changes were seen as a act of desperation and too little too late.

For those of you still interested in the show, it hasn't gone away! The show and us die hard fans are still around! There is a very active online site and forum as well as replays on UK Digital Channel Challenge TV every weeknight and weekends! I have been asked several times should the show come back! My answer has always been and still is NO! Sadly TV has moved on and it wouldn't fit in anymore. Lets leave this show as a classic fond memory. Thats what it deserves!