Gladiators: First ITV Promo (1992)

It's been a whopping 25 years since Gladiators hit our TV screens! Here's our first ever ITV promo. What are your favourite memories?

[@chrisdawson6156]

I remember watching this every Saturday evening Wolf was my favourite

[@chrislogan2557]

He understood what this was more than anyone else. It wasn't just sport or competition, it was entertainment. It was about whipping up the crowd, whether it was getting them cheering or booing, just like any good pantomime villain.

[@chrismingus6279]

Looks so fun! What a 90's show!🤭

[@MauriGooner]

So many comments about it getting better after S1. I think S1 was unlike anything we’d ever seen before and while I agree the format was enhanced in subsequent series’, it still could not replicate the impact of that first series. There was a wow factor which 31yrs on has never been matched.

[@ScapoloMichael]

What do you reckon to the new BBC series? I like it but some challenges seem too easy and I wish BBC had the rights to the music for Duel, Eliminator and others.

[@MauriGooner]

@@ScapoloMichael I’ve been watching but I think those of who grew up with Gladiators in the 90s are forming the core of its proportion of viewers now. It’s getting larger than expected audiences but there’s no breakdown and I reckon it’s on a par with something like Strictly: the target audience of Gladiators are now grey and middle aged😆 As for the show- it does feel like something that happened when I was a kid. They brought back “It’s a Knockout” which was appealing to the parents of the generation I grew up in. It was a show that was popular in the 70s and when it was revived,it had strong audiences too but it was propped up by the parents of 30/40yrs ago. And that’s what I suspect is happening with Gladiators now. “It’s A Knockout” completely went over my head and I think the same is happening with younger people now😆

[@Tubewings]

One thing I did not like about the inaugural series of "Gladiators" is the "leaderboard" format, where contenders only advanced to the semifinals if they scored high enough in the main events and won their episode.

[@gquinn4159]

There is something about series 1 that's so different to Series 2 onwards... Everyone was abit wooden. I can't put my finger on it... If It's the arena, the lighting was darker in tone... It feels it was recorded alright. Where from Series 2 onwards, it could had been happening live on TV, for those who didn't know better. Still though it's still fascinating to watch.

[@TimothyMischka]

It didn't help they had only six events that were used that first series, made everything feel a bit repetitive. Thankfully they introduced more events and made it less predictable with series 2.

[@welshie1979]

Remember this like it was yesterday..ground breaking stuff

[@badwolf9517]

These were my role models growing up☺☺☺☺

[@greenkitty82]

bad wolf I agree. I was lucky to meet Saracen, Panther and Cobra as a child and no childhood was complete without loving the gladiators! They were rockstars to all 90s kids 😁

[@caffeinatedtrouble]

TV just isn't this fun anymore.

[@disneyremixes]

TV just isn't as dangergous anymore. With health and safey as it is.. you can forget anything like this coming back to our screens lol

[@stargateoracle]

​@@disneyremixes well its back on tv with bbc in the new year

[@scottpringle]

Saturaday 13th january 2024 bbc1 bradley walsh and barney ​@stargateoracle

[@baldeepbirak]

Great to watch in the 1990s. Back in 2024. How will it compare?

[@philicon353]

Honestly think it will be shite now. If anything it was killed off in 2000s.

[@Aaron-lr1di]

@@philicon353 The new gladiators look like sh*t compared to the old ones. And lets not talk about the travesty of the sky version