Gladiators (1992 British TV series, series 8)

On 11 February 1999, it was revealed in the British newspaper The Sun that Gladiators had been axed by ITV following continuing falling ratings—most shows in the previous series had dipped below six million viewers for the first time. This news came not long before the BBC announced that their once flagship Saturday night programme Noel's House Party was also to be axed after it too saw its viewing figures sharply decline. Both shows had regularly aired head-to-head against one another during their peak in popularity in the mid-1990s.

Gladiators
Season 8
Starring	Ulrika Jonsson John Fashanu
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	4
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	11 December 1999 – 1 January 2000
Series chronology

Soon after ITV officially confirmed that Gladiators would end, the recently launched digital terrestrial platform ONdigital, co-owned by ITV's two largest regional companies Carlton Television and Granada Television, persuaded LWT (itself owned by Granada) to produce a final mini-series in order to give the show a proper send-off. Gladiators: The Supreme Champion was commissioned by ONdigital for ITV, and all four episodes aired exclusively on the digital terrestrial provider over the Bank Holiday weekend as a back-to-back triple bill on 29 May 1999 and repeated over the next two days on 30 and 31 May before it was then transmitted nationally on the ITV network during Christmas 1999.

Long standing presenter John Fashanu returned to co-host the mini-series alongside Ulrika Jonsson.

All gladiators that appeared in the previous series returned. Diesel (Darren Crawford) and Vulcan (John Seru) only appeared in the 'Battle of the Giants' episode.

The final episode was broadcast on 1 January 2000 and was dedicated to the memory of LWT's videotape editor Clayton Parker who died in a car crash on 14 February 1999 at the age of 45.

Gladiators returned with a revival series in 2008 on Sky1. Ian Wright replaced Ulrika Jonsson and Kirsty Gallacher replaced John Fashanu. assistant referee Andrew Norgate was replaced by William Sharman, with some of the original gladiators competing as legends.

Episodes

Episode	Title	Original airdate	Viewers[1]
1	"Heat 1"	11 December 1999[2]	Under 7.13
2	"Heat 2"	18 December 1999[3]	Under 6.59
3	"Battle of the Giants"	25 December 1999[4]	Under 6.63
4	"Grand Final"	1 January 2000[5]	6.18

References

1. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
2. "GLADIATORS (EPISODE 0001)". ITN Source. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
3. "GLADIATORS (EPISODE 0002)". ITN Source. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
4. "GLADIATORS (EPISODE 0003)". ITN Source. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
5. "GLADIATORS (EPISODE 0004)". ITN Source. Retrieved 15 July 2017.