Gladiators came back with a bang to British TV screens on Saturday, making light work of ITV‘s The Masked Singer. In the latest line of UK TV reboots, the series in which members of the public take on the gladiators in challenges was watched by more than 6M viewers with a 38% share, comfortably becoming the BBC‘s most-watched new show of the year and topping the weekend ratings chart.
Helmed by Bradley Walsh and son Barney, the hour-long show that aired from 5.50 p.m. GMT (9.50 a.m. PT) peaked with 6.3M and comfortably beat ITV’s The Masked Singer, which is now into its fifth season and was watched by 3.7M from 7 p.m.
GMT. The rating would have been particularly frustrating for ITV as Gladiators aired on that channel for eight years and 13 seasons in the 1990s, making icons of its gladiators.
It was briefly restarted by Sky One in the late-noughties but only ran for a further two seasons, but the BBC announced it was bringing it back with fanfare last year.
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