Any thoughts on the BBC revival?

Visually and games-wise it definitely is true to the spirit of the original (unlike the short-lived Sky version, which was in a cramped studio rather than a big indoor arena). We saw classics Duel, Hang Tough and Gauntlet, and a barely tinkered with Eliminator which was good. One of the new games was similar to Powerball, so not sure if we’ll see that in its original form… presumably The Wall will be played in future episodes as I saw the wall itself in the arena. As for other oldies, I always liked Atlaspheres but not sure if that will be back as it seemed to cause too many knee injuries. We surely won’t see the ultra-dangerous Pyramid again… I used to like the Pendulum one as well, don’t know if that’s in the new series!

It will take time to get to know the new Gladiators, though Viper is obviously the Wolf clone. Mark Clattenburg is a natural in the John Anderson role, while Guy Mowbray on comms is a bit more laid back than John Sachs was. Really not sure the Walshes are right for this though, Brad’s too old to front something like this and his cheesy jokes work best on a quiz, and his son’s a bit of a nonentity. We need a young, sporty, excitable Fash and Ulrika equivalent for the ‘20s… as it is, there’s not an “Awooga” to be heard!

I'll re-post here what I put in a Facebook group after the show last week:

Not a bad opening show. Not a million miles away from what the ITV version would have been if it had continued to the present day.

Liked Bradley as host but unsure on Barney, I'm sure some of the glads will grow on me also (although Legend I think is a pale imitation of Wolf). Hang Tough felt a lot slower than the original version.

The pacing of the show wasn't too bad, but maybe they could have sharpened some things up to make room for one more event pre-Eliminator.

Bradley Walsh is actually older now than John Fashanu who hosted it 30 years ago (and most recently seen hosting DoND Nigeria!)