Episode 1 Robot Wars

Four teams are about to have a Robot Wars Christmas dream come true.

With our help,

they've designed and built their very own heavyweight combat machine.

I've sold a million singles,

but crushing a robot is music to my ears.

World champion, Commonwealth champion, Olympic champion,

and now hopefully Robot Wars Champions.

Precision engineered to inflict maximum damage,

these novice roboteers will test their machines to breaking point.

This is going to be carnage. I want to get out there and I want to win.

But to do so, they must compete in the most dangerous fighting arena

in the world.

Battle after battle, they'll duel their robots,

dodge the arena hazards and the dreaded house robots.

-Here we go.

-Come on!

With only one hour repair time between battles,

they'll need to work hard...

It's dangerous.

..to keep their robots running.

It's feeling better already.

Each team will be guided to glory by a battle-hardened robot mentor.

Their fighting experience will be invaluable in the quest for glory.

The power!

Who will prove they have what it takes to become a champion?

It's time to find out.

This is Robot Wars: Battle Of The Stars.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Welcome to Robot Wars: Battle Of The Stars.

Four celebrities and their teams face off against each other

in the world's toughest fighting arena.

This is where the teams must smash,

flip and outdrive the competition, and as if that wasn't tough

enough, they still have the hazards and house robots to contend with.

From design and build to battle and repair,

only one can become Robot Wars Champion.

Battling for victory tonight are:

Radio 1's Scott Mills and Chris Stark.

Space scientist and TV presenter Maggie Aderin-Pocock.

Olympic medallists the Brownlee brothers.

And sports and technology presenter Suzi Perry.

Guiding them through the competition are four experienced

Robot Wars mentors.

Dave Moulds, Carbide.

David is a professional engineer and one half of Team Carbide,

one of the most deadly spinners ever created.

Carbide is capable of slicing 7mm titanium armour,

using its spinning blade.

Shane Swan, Dantomkia.

With 15 years' experience, Shane's speciality is flippers.

He got to the heat final with his robot Dantomkia by

obliterating the competition.

Craig Danby, Foxic.

Mechanical engineer Craig has built 132 robots in the past

16 years and competed last series with the super-tough robot Foxic.

Specialising in gearboxes and drive systems,

he will give his team the push it needs.

Gabriel Stroud, Sabretooth.

Software company director Gabriel has been competing

for 14 years with his robot Sabretooth.

He's never won a televised fight,

but has sworn to conquer the arena this time.

These are our mentors, who will guide our robot fighters to victory.

Here's how the competition works.

They'll fight each other once in a mini league,

with the top two teams making it through to tonight's grand final.

First into the arena tonight,

it's Scott Mills and Chris Stark versus Maggie Aderin-Pocock.

In my day job, I see robots being built to go to other planets,

to go to comets, so robots are part of my bread and butter, I think.

The thing I'm most excited about, being in Robot Wars, is just

to get in that arena and just feel the adrenaline of the audience.

-I think that's going to carry us through.

-CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

-Chris Stark, Scott Mills and mentor Dave. Let's see it.

-OK, do you want to see it?

-Yes.

-Do you want to do the big reveal?

-Shall I?

-Collective, team effort.

-Three, two, one. Woo!

-See?

-Ooh!

-It's baby blue in colour.

-Baby blue, lovely.

-But with a vicious claw.

-Yeah, what are you saying about this?

-It is vicious!

Whose idea was this? Where did this...?

It's kind of a combined effort. These guys gave me a drawing and I just kind of went with it and...

Literally, the worst drawing you've ever seen.

It was like a box and we had this idea for the yellow thing,

-but Dave's done us proud.

-Big yellow thing.

-Yeah, the yellow thing.

-Is the yellow thing lethal, Dave?

-Hopefully, yeah.

-OK.

-What are our chances?

-Oh, pretty good.

OK, please, give it up for Arena Cleaner.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

OK, I don't regularly do this, but I think this is cheating. I think this is absolutely cheating.

I think this team shouldn't be allowed in. You are a doctor of mechanical engineering,

you have sent things into space.

-How many things have you sent into space?

-Two or three.

-Two or three!

-You can't remember the exact number of things you've sent!

-I lose count!

Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, this is unfair! I believe this robot...

Here it is.

Even to claim the robot would be interstellar is in itself

aiming so much higher than anyone else is.

-We intend to send the other robots interstellar.

-Is that it?

-With the flipper, that's the plan.

-And that's your big weapon. Was that always the one you wanted?

-I definitely wanted a flipper. That's the one I wanted to go for always.

-It's a fantastic weapon,

-but who is going to operate the weapon?

-Ah!

-Hey, how are you?

Have you thought about when you're going to hit it, press the button?

-How far do you think they'll go in the sky?

-High.

High, that's grand. That's fine. You win! If they go high, you win.

Give it up, ladies and gentlemen, for Interstellar MML. What a team! CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

It's unfair! It is unfair!

This promises to be a battle of unconventional attack,

a rear-facing spinner against a front-end flipper.

So, can Maggie's brains outwit Scott and Chris to take the three

points, or will the spinner get up to speed and send her into orbit?

Taking us through our first battle tonight,

it's the one and only Jonathan Pearce.

Thanks, Dara and Angela.

Each celebrity bout tonight will be played over three minutes.

Robots are out if they're immobilised for ten seconds,

flipped out or find themselves down in the pit of doom.

If after three minutes there's no winner,

it's up to our judging panel,

Dr Noel Sharkey, Professor Sethu Vijayakumar and Dr Lucy Rogers,

to choose a winner.

The teams are in the arena, so let's meet their robots.

From Eastleigh, Arena Cleaner.

Arena Cleaner has a ten-kilo spinning blade, which team-mates

Scott Mills and Chris Stark hope will tidy away the opposition.

The team have said they want to take out a house robot.

They're unwise to anger the Guardians of the Arena.

From London, Interstellar MML.

Interstellar is a CO2-powered front-hinge flipper,

a one-of-a-kind in this competition.

The Interstellar steel armour top might be

a weak point against spinners in the arena.

Team captain Maggie dreams of going to the Moon and would like to

retire on Mars. At least she is among the stars tonight.

Of course, our celebrity teams must be wary of the house robots,

even though it's the holiday season.

The house robots haven't taken a day off,

dishing out damage from their corner patrol zones.

For our first battle,

it's the only snowplough I know with a titanium tip axe, it's Shunt.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Roboteers, stand by.

The competitors are ready. It's time for our first battle.

-The anticipation is killing me!

-I don't like it!

Three, two, one.

Activate!

Dr Maggie says competing on Robot Wars is a dream come true.

How lovely, how nice. Now we're going to smash up your robot!

Oh! Or are we?

I think we are! Because of the yellow thing.

Oh! The yellow thing!

Oh!

That big bar spinner has caused so much danger.

She loves space. Part of her robot is in space!

Interstellar MML is in the arena.

Well, all over the arena floor, to be honest.

What power behind that very weighty 20-kilo bar spinner.

-KLAXON

-All over.

All over bar the shouting and the moaning and the groaning.

Aw! Aw!

It ain't going to get off!

Dr Maggie works for the Ministry of Defence. God help us!

Look at that power! Tyre shredded, right from the start.

Bang! Crash!

Smash!

-That didn't go to plan, did it?

-No! I am still in a state of shock.

-I know.

-Cos there's debris littered all over the place.

They got a good run cos they were sort of quite hesitant,

so I got in, but then I went a bit askew and they just laid in.

-So that was lack of control.

-It was.

-You were aiming to go forwards.

-Yes, and then try and flip them.

-Listen, pull yourself back together.

We're Interstellar, we're going to go again.

Team morale, head up, ready for the next round? Yes, good!

-Good, good, good! I mean, lads...

-Whoa!

-Wow!

I'm so impressed with the viciousness of that claw. It's so fast.

Lethal. Was it different to how you imagined?

It's way more difficult, I think, when you're here.

It's so strange, cos I feel like I'm in the TV right now.

-It's really strange seeing it like this and seeing...

-You are in the TV.

We just won a battle of Robot Wars. It's an amazing time.

So the points go to the Cleaners, over here.

-Well done.

-CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

You guys are looking very casual there.

We're just inspecting the damage. There isn't any.

I'm just trying to calm down a little bit.

It was so crazy in there. It just goes by so fast.

And there's our robot, just being loaded on there.

With the full three points and no damage to Team Arena Cleaner,

there's time to have a nosy at their battered competition.

What have you done? You're mean.

I like the way you left your signature, canary-yellow paint.

-I know, a little bit of paint left on there.

-Yeah.

-Sorry.

-It's gone through a lot.

-Yes.

-Two layers of hardened steel there.

-Quite, just ripped through.

-That's mad.

You think that's bad and then it progressively gets worse.

That can't have been far off hitting one of the canisters.

You want to go for an explosion!

The CO2 gas canisters that power many of the robots'

weapons are one of the most dangerous components in the arena

and need to be handled with great care when damaged,

as we saw last series with Terrorhurtz.

We want robots to be crushed and diced!

And Behemoth have responded and have pushed Terrorhurtz onto that

side wall again.

Back towards DeadMetal.

Down comes the blade onto the polycarbonate armour.

Yeah, DeadMetal had a go at us with his big circular saw and

he's put gashes into the bottle.

Our gas tank. We store all the gas in here.

We probably can't use that again. It's probably not safe.

After every battle, teams have just an hour to repair their

robots before they must fight again.

-We need to take out these motors.

-Yes.

-Cos they've obviously got the most damage.

-Yes.

The armour, I mean, we can hammer this armour back out.

And this side, I guess.

We may do a bit of welding on that bit there, just to patch it back up.

I was actually an avid listener of Scott Mills. Not no more.

LAUGHTER

Dr Maggie was hoping to use some off-the-shelf tech to get the

edge in the arena, but has discovered the hard way that it was less than battleproof.

This is how it started looking. But unfortunately, after the battle, this is what I got back.

So, I've still got a spare, so for the next battle,

hopefully this will be online,

but the carnage of that other machine was amazing because

it really sort of shredded this and quite a bit of the robot,

but Interstellar will not go unopposed.

It will be rebuilt and Shane is doing

a fantastic job in the background.

He's rebuilding the robot, so we'll be back.

Next battle into the arena is Olympians the Brownlee

brothers versus Suzi Perry and Dallas Campbell.

The idea of my robot is based on a cat. They look cute,

but they're seriously vicious if you get on the wrong side of them.

I'm sharing my pit garage with a great friend of mine,

Dallas Campbell.

We both can't wait to get started.

We are the Brownlee brothers and we're famous for competing in

-the Olympic Games.

-We're both incredibly competitive.

We've got enough gold. We're here to make some scrap metal.

Alistair and Jonny Brownlee with their mentor Gabriel.

-How are you feeling?

-A little bit nervous. Obviously.

It's the first time I've done anything like this.

I'm very excited and our robot looks really good and strong.

-Your robot, Jar... Do you mind if I do the honours?

-Go for it.

-Don't hurt him, though.

-Nice!

What are the team tactics? Have you had motivational talks?

We've got a very, very simple tactic, to be honest,

and that's try and keep the front towards any other robot and

-if it comes close enough, whack it with the hammer.

-Whack it with the hammer.

-Yeah.

-Sounds simple enough to me.

-That's all we've got, yeah.

-Please, give it up for Jar.

-CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Suzi Perry, this is the robot you've built.

-Is it what you dreamed it would be?

-Yes. This is my dream robot.

-Really?

Yes, and you'll see why in a minute.

OK, I want to see now if this is everything you wanted it to be.

-Ta-da! Look at that!

-Ta-da!

-You know, it's a cat, Dara?

-It's a cat. It's got a face on it. A whimsical touch.

-I know.

I wanted to personalise it a little bit, but also, you know what

cats are like, they're lovely but then they've got a dark side.

-Yeah.

-They can lash out.

-They can lash out.

-They can be fierce.

-Yeah, but in an easily batted away way.

-But they've got nine lives.

-This thing looks fearsome, and also sweet.

-And sweet!

But mainly fearsome. But also sweet. It's lovely.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Cat. Give it up for the Cat. CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

It's a hammer versus a rear spinner.

The Brownlee brothers will have to rain down blows to stop their

opponents spinning up, but one well-timed attack may clinch it for the Cat.

It's over to Jonathan Pearce to oversee our second battle.

Thanks, Dara and Angela again.

Let's meet the robots in our second battle tonight.

From Cosford, the Cat.

The Cat is the heaviest robot in tonight's competition.

Its 30-kilo spinning disc spins at over 150rpm.

The Cat's weapon is too dangerous to test outside the Robot Wars

arena, so the first time they use it will be in a, well,

couple of seconds, actually.

From Leeds, Jar.

The Brownlee brothers' robot Jar uses

a gold 800-PSI pneumatic axe to pummel its opponents.

Jar has the hardest armour in the competition,

recycled from one of mentor Dave's old robots.

The brothers have had remote-control boats, cars and planes,

but they say they've crashed them all.

The house robot in for this battle

you definitely don't want over for Christmas,

top of the naughty list, it's the crushing claw of Sir Killalot.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

The teams are in the booth. The time for talk is over.

OK, here we go. This is it.

Bring it on!

Three, two, one.

Activate!

Cat on a hot tin roof, all right, the cold arena floor,

and it can be cold and merciless and lonely out there.

And trying to get away from that big hammer.

-Hit it! Hit it!

-Go on, Jonny!

Whack it with the hammer. That's the simple tactic.

The golden hammer. Down came the Brownlees' golden hammer.

And the Cat was nearly dead.

-Is it going, still?

-No, I don't think so.

-Hit him, hit him quick.

They are so competitive, the Brownlees, but they're in trouble.

They're not moving.

Mind you, the Cat seems to be spinning out of control

because of that massive horizontal spinner.

-30 kilos, that weighs.

-KLAXON

We got them.

They have got them.

Not the result the Brownlees wanted.

Ooh!

-What's happening?

-That's unfair.

-It's moving you.

Destroying him.

A pinch or two of trouble.

Wrecking the dream.

Alistair and Jonny, big fans of Robot Wars.

They watched it when they were younger.

They won't want to watch this back.

-What happened?

-Just stopped working, basically.

A touch of everything seemed to stop working. You both stopped working,

-but they stopped working, like, a microsecond before you did.

-Basically, what happened, I think,

is our hammer came down and we basically knocked ourselves out.

-So it's like punching yourself in the face a little bit.

-Yeah.

To be fair, they did get one impact on you,

which has left shards of metal scattered there.

I think that was after we stopped, though.

Hey. You're already immobile.

They were cheating. I think the judges should look at that again.

They got hammered by themselves. And we couldn't stop spinning around.

-Was that your clever tactic?

-The energy just didn't come out of

it at all. And he was just going round and round and round.

-I'm going, "Come on!"

-I know.

-"Let's get in there!" And he's like, "I can't, we're going round!"

It did look like you were being haughty in some way, arrogant.

-Spinning away from us.

-Bring it on!

-Salsa-ing around!

We are the winners! You're the losers!

And just keep doing this. At the end of that, the points went to the Cat.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Really difficult decision here.

The Cat, stealth-like, came in, attacking the Jar.

Jar just was going for it and then... And then what?

We couldn't tell if it was actually immobilised or bad driving.

But after a while, we decided it was actually immobilised.

So, Jar returned pointless, but with a new plan for the next battle.

You know, we know we've got the problems - how are we going

to sort it out before the next fight?

So, the plan, moving forward, is to get the drive working and then what

we're going to do is we're going to turn the hammer down a bit...

-Yeah, a bit too powerful, we think.

-So, what we need to do is just take it back a bit.

-We still want the hammer to be able to go through things, don't we?

-Definitely.

-I think it'll be good.

-OK.

-All right, let's get busy.

-Bring on the next fight.

-Let's go.

So, after two fights, how does the leaderboard look?

At the top of the table,

it's Scott Mills and Suzi Perry level with three points.

And in joint last place with no points,

Dr Maggie and the Brownlee brothers.

Our next fight is Arena Cleaner versus the Cat.

Scott Mills, whose robot emerged unscathed from the last fight,

has designs on the house robots.

You know, Chris is like, "Let's try and take out a house robot."

-Do you think we're running before we can walk here a little bit?

-Yeah.

He's going to have to be on his game.

I'm going to have a word. Leave it with me.

It won't be the first time a team has attempted to topple the house robots.

Champions Apollo made a name for themselves by taking on three

out of the four Guardians of the Arena.

How dare you!

Meanwhile, he's got to stay away from any damage Storm II can cause.

Pushed on to Matilda. Were they going to flip Matilda?

I think they were. I think they got too confident there.

Oh, they've done it!

A KO blow for the second time!

They've taken just about everyone out!

This is what they did when they met earlier on and this is where...

Maybe he can get his revenge now!

Again, a house robot has been flipped!

For the third time in the night, Apollo flips a house robot!

Over goes Shunt.

So, look out, house robots, in this spinner against spinner battle.

These two could cancel each other out, if not driven well,

but the winner here will take a commanding lead on our scoreboard.

Our driving in the arena is going to have to be sharp, it's going to have to be focused,

and Chris is going to have to put all of his attention on it.

It's going to take a lot of concentration.

I think we have a very sturdy robot. It's quite robust.

The one thing I'm worried about is the wheels stick out.

If someone gets one of those, then it's game over.

Got to be honest, I haven't won that much in my life, so to win Robot Wars would be pretty cool.

I will be telling people that forever.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Two giant spinners.

I have a feeling this battle will end in tears.

I wouldn't want to be in the corner control zone for this match.

It appears that Shunt has drawn the short straw.

Let's hope his toughened steel scoop is up to the job.

Roboteers, stand by.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Best two robots we've seen so far.

We know what they're planning.

-I don't like this.

-Spin. ..Two, one.

Activate!

Dallas has all the theory, that's if it works.

At the moment, they dodge that weaponry, the big bar spinner.

And the Cat is moving stealthily.

Calm.

Ooh! And Arena Cleaner gets bashed against the side wall and

loses a wheel!

Brilliant battle! Arena Cleaner is taken to the cleaners!

I can't believe it!

The Cat's horizontal disc spinner causing all the trouble.

At 1,200rpm, the heaviest spinner in the competition

has the most energy.

-Yes!

-Oh, no!

And Scott Mills and Chris Stark in real peril.

-Nightmare.

-Wow!

That is vicious!

Top of the charts, I don't think so.

-KLAXON

-The Cat purrs.

Come on!

Don't leave me hanging! Don't leave me hanging!

Well, we had a theory that Arena Cleaner would be the strongest.

Bang goes the theory, Dallas would say!

No! That's unnecessary!

-No!

-That's unnecessary.

-Argh!

Oh, it is necessary. No, no, no, Scott. It is necessary. We love it.

We like to see the carnage.

Carnage at Christmas time

in the Robot Wars arena.

It's a festive special.

Two of the biggest spinners we've ever seen on Robot Wars.

We knew sparks would fly.

And they lit up the arena

with brute force and destruction on Arena Cleaner.

Guys, I mean, this is a different feel.

The last time, it was like a childhood dream realised,

you were on top of the world.

Just watching the Arena Cleaner being stretchered off.

The Arena Cleaner is being cleaned up.

-I don't like it when she's injured.

-I think we gave it to them.

-They can talk about skill.

-Thank you!

And talk about this wonderful driving ability.

To be honest with you, they're not very good at driving the robot.

We're really not!

I mean, evidently, a little better than you,

-if you don't mind me saying.

-LAUGHTER

Oh, lads. I don't know what to say. You hug it out there, get in there.

Group hug, all round. Another three points for you.

-Top of the leaderboard.

-Are we top of the board?

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Two lives down. Still got seven left!

Victorious Cat returns to the pits to inspect the damage.

The thing that's worried me is that they've hit the centre of the shaft.

It's only the lightest little nick.

Do you reckon that's going to affect us?

You can see the damage on the steel, here, just little bits.

And there's a chunk gone out of here.

Meanwhile, Scott Mills has literally been picking up the pieces,

and there's more bad news to come.

We've got like a bit of a souvenir of our latest battle.

It didn't go to plan at all. And we did have a plan.

When they've hit the wheel, not only has the wheel completely

-disintegrated, but the motor's now like a banana shape.

-Right.

-That's not good.

-That's not good.

-So that needs to be a whole new one.

-Yeah.

-What do we have to do? Bribe someone else?

-They've got the same motors.

-We could just pinch one of theirs.

-I think we'll be disqualified.

-Yeah.

-So, new motor from somewhere.

-Yeah.

Do you want me to go and help find one, or...?

You can ask around, see if there's anyone with a spare.

All right. Yeah.

-Shall we go and do that?

-OK.

With the full six points to Team Cat,

this is where we stand on our leaderboard.

At the top of the table, Suzi Perry has six points.

Next, Scott Mills on three. And with a fight in hand,

it's the Brownlee brothers and Dr Maggie on no points.

Our next fight is between Dr Maggie's team,

Interstellar MML, and the Brownlee brothers' Team Jar.

But it's been a tough rebuild for Shane and Dr Maggie.

Unfortunately, Arena Cleaner caused us quite

a bit of damage on the side.

Shane has done a fantastic job, cutting out the...

Because if we don't cut out the bent bits, our flipper won't flip.

So we've got to get rid of those. It leaves us vulnerable.

Shane's cut those out and cut out these bits of toughened steel.

We're going to weld those in place.

Shane's going to weld those in place!

We're going to take it in turns.

We'll see! You'll know which the weak side is.

-Will that keep that in?

-It'll have to do.

-Right. Doesn't look pretty, but it'll do the job.

-No, that's right.

-You don't have to look pretty when you go to war.

-No!

The Brownlees are hoping their reconfigured attacking hammer

will now do the job.

So, next time, we'll have to really limit the hammer.

-Only when we're going to hit something, not the floor.

-Yeah.

It wasn't that. Do you know what? That's the way it goes, isn't it?

And the hammer blow, it might do it again.

In which case, it's way too powerful.

We might need to turn it down a bit and we can actually turn the

-reg down to give us less force.

-So, a battle of two teams,

both desperately in need of points to stay in the competition.

But can they overcome mechanical issues to get the job done?

The robot design is wonderful, but I do have a few fears for it.

If the flipper gets bent at the front, then it'll be scraping

on the ground and also it won't be able to get underneath other robots.

I was looking at the robot as well and the flipper is very wide,

which is great for me, cos that means

no matter what angle I go, I can actually get another robot on top.

But it's very snug to the sides.

If I get a side impact, I think the flipper could get stuck, wedged

between the two sides of the robot, so that makes me slightly worried.

We need to get out there and we need to get aggressive.

We need to get under as many robots as possible and flip them.

This is going to be carnage. I want to get out there and I want to win.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

In the arena for our fourth battle tonight, with 2.5 tonnes of

flip, it's my favourite little stocking filler, Matilda.

Interstellar with that onboard camera.

Dr Maggie hoping to get some advantage here.

Roboteers, stand by.

Three, two, one.

Activate!

Can Interstellar banish the bent bits?

Has that adjustment to the hammer worked for Jar bot? Down it came.

It hits the arena floor.

If it hits the opponent, you can be sure of causing damage,

but if you miss, it's likely to throw itself into the air.

There comes the flipper of Interstellar.

Nearly throwing itself over there, Jar bot.

Difficult to control.

They're side by side.

Glancing blow. Finds itself on the Flame Pit.

Unwise.

-Hit it again!

-It's gone.

-Has he gone? Go on.

-No.

-Ram them. You can ram them.

-Brownlees discussing things.

They wanted a cluster box, so they could double-team,

like they do when competing in a team triathlon.

Mentor Gabriel advised them against it. What's his advice now?

Get off that Flame Pit.

They're into a corner, but it's not guarded by a house robot.

All the activity from Jar bot here. They're the aggressive ones.

We've lost our... You've got no hammer left, I don't think.

Oh, that's a worry, no more hammer.

No more CO2.

You could see it venting there!

The gas has gone.

But Interstellar not moving and that means that Matilda can come

in and have fun.

In she comes with the tusks.

Pneumatic flipping tusks, the vertical pink.

Back, back, back.

-When I go back, I just spin.

-You've lost the wheel.

-Yeah.

So, she's got problems with manoeuvrability.

They've lost a wheel. You can see it bent and buckled.

Matilda has a shove.

When Matilda comes in to dance, you know you're in trouble.

-Hit him now!

-It's a she, actually!

-Let's get it right.

-KLAXON

I think Jar bot had it right. Goes to the judges.

They'll decide, judging on control, damage and aggression.

For me, Jar bot had it.

That axe is so difficult to control. Just a little glance.

The flipper of Interstellar not doing any damage.

They sustained damage, they drove on to the fire.

More points in Jar bot's favour. But then they suffered that damage.

That was great. Thank you very, very much. That was fantastic fun!

Really? You don't think that was good?

-It's harder than it looks on TV.

-It is, isn't it?

-Definitely.

-It is tough. And who was working the weapon this time?

-Daddy.

We didn't quite get under.

You really have to get a long way under to make it go interstellar.

-Yes!

-Yeah, yeah.

-But when we do get under, I'm sure we'll be interstellar!

-I'm sure.

At that moment, it will be amazing.

This one started great, started really, really well,

and then a minute and a half into it,

jets of CO2 started appearing from all over the place. What happened?

We've kind of become experts at hurting ourselves.

-You have, haven't you?

-Cos the hammer comes down so hard, the fittings might not be

strong enough and I think one of the tubes split or something.

OK, now, neither of you had any points before this one started.

No outright winner either, which means it goes to a judges' decision.

The judges' decision was unanimous.

And the winner of the fight and those two points is...

..Jar, ladies and gentlemen.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

It's back into repair mode for Maggie,

who needs to diagnose a problem with their drive.

We don't actually know what's gone wrong, it could be electrical,

-we don't know.

-Mechanical, electrical. It's hard to tell.

It could be mechanical on the motor, electrical on the speed controller.

-Random bits of metal.

-Random bits of metal from previous fights.

Shall we make a key ring out of them?

With a victory under their belts, Team Jar's next fight is crucial,

but their constant damage and repairs have worrying repercussions.

We have hardly any parts. We are running out of everything.

We've gone through all the electrics that we have,

we've replaced all the receivers. And that was one thing.

This is the second time we've broken this bit.

Remember the first time we went through it, and now we've done

it again.

-So, this is our last time. If we break this again...

-Really?

I don't think there's any other parts.

-Oh, wow!

-I've stripped these out of another robot.

-Wow!

So, we've actually pilfered these.

-We need to be careful with this hammer.

-OK.

-We need to be careful.

-So, Jonny, hammer control.

-I need to be more conservative with the hammer.

I was a little bit trigger-happy in the last round,

but I'm going to wait for the big hit and go for it.

That victory to the Brownlee brothers now means the

leaderboard looks like this.

Suzi Perry's still at the top on six points.

Next, it's Scott Mills on three, then the Brownlee brothers move

up to two points, and in last place, it's Dr Maggie on zero points.

Next up, it's Dr Maggie and her team's last chance to score

some points.

For league leaders Suzi and Dallas, with six points on the board,

it feels like everything's falling into place.

I think we're in tune with each other

a bit more now in what we're doing, as a team it's working really well.

In that game, Craig said, "Stop panicking, calm down."

Last time Interstellar met a spinner, they ended up seeing stars.

Team Cat are desperate to maintain their winning streak and

place in the final.

All they have to do is beat bottom- of-the-table Interstellar MML.

Our weapon will spin at about 140mph, full pelt.

So you don't want to get in the way of that, which is brilliant.

But if we get flipped, we won't be able to push anybody around,

our wheels won't be on the floor,

we'll get hoofed out of the arena, and it'll be over for the Cat.

However, I like to think that cats always land on their feet,

so hopefully, if we get flipped, we'll do a 360.

It'd be a novel experience if I won, cos I've never won anything

-in my life.

-CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

And in the CPZ for battle five, hide the sherry or he'll be Sir Hitalot.

It's the caterpillar-track terror, Sir Killalot.

Suzi and Dallas look like the cat that's got the cream right now.

Three, two, one.

Activate!

The yellow machine getting away from that Interstellar flipper.

Needs to get right under the opponent to launch...

Oh, the Cat got too close there

to Sir Killalot!

-I think...

-Stop, stop, stop.

-It's stopped.

-There's nothing going on.

-Stop.

Well, were they too confident? They went into Sir Killalot's

territory and they are out of this one.

-Oh, I didn't get to flip anybody!

-Sorry.

What happened?!

-That's not fair.

-I know. Don't break the robot!

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

He's not sorry at all.

Laughter and tears.

What a win for Interstellar.

That's where it went wrong for the Cat.

They got too close to the claws of Sir Killalot.

Great team, Maggie. And Martin and little Lauren.

Ha-ha!

Clocking in at 29 seconds,

that was one of Robot Wars' quickest battles, but sometimes,

the shortest ones are the sweetest, as mentor Shane will remember

when he despatched the legendary wooden robot Overdozer last series.

..Two, one.

Activate!

We've lost drive, that's it.

Ooh!

Back with our battling stars,

Maggie's brilliant career in science and technology sadly wasn't

enough to get Team Interstellar MML past those brutal spinners.

They're now out of the competition,

but they seem to have caught the Robot Wars bug.

The bit I really enjoyed today was trying to put it back together, cos it was fantastic.

Begging and borrowing bits from here and there.

And actually getting it up and running again.

And it got up and running again and it did a great job,

especially in the final battle.

So, it's just been a fantastic day for me.

-How about you guys?

-I liked it. I loved it.

-You loved it?

Are you going to do some engineering? Yeah!

Team Cat may now have a place in the final,

but Suzi's discovering the damage following their fight with

house robot Sir Killalot is worse than expected.

Ho-ho! That Cat's got too close there

to Sir Killalot!

-What's come off?

-The belt.

-The belt.

-The belt?

-Yeah. Needs to be pushed back, that's why it's...

We're at that point where we're just hitting it with a hammer.

-HAMMER CLANGS

-It's not going, is it?

If Team Cat can't repair their robot in time for the final,

they'll forfeit their place.

So the pressure is on to get the Cat back into fighting shape.

If they can, they'll meet the winner of the next fight,

so it's all to play for between Arena Cleaner and Jar.

Trying to secure their place in the final,

Scott Mills is getting his hands dirty-ish with robot repairs.

-Dave, I've got a new motor!

-Oh, good work.

-Is this the one you wanted?

-Absolutely, yeah.

-I knew it would be.

-Do you know where to put it?

-No.

-OK.

-I'll just leave it here.

-Yeah, we'll sort that out.

Cheers, thank you.

I haven't...

I didn't necessarily source that myself, but there's a nice man

over there who said, "Got a present for you, lads, if you want one."

-Oh, bang on.

-So, is that good?

-Yeah, yeah.

OK.

The Brownlee brothers have also had to be adept and creative in

their repairs to get the hammer back to working order,

in the knowledge that a victory now could make it all worthwhile.

We've broken this part and replaced it.

We've broken this part and replaced it.

And now, we've broken this part and we've replaced it.

And now, this is now fixed, so I'll put it together for the final

time and then we'll be working and fully functioning.

And it's all or nothing now.

We've got to win this next one to stay in the competition and

try and get to the final, so, yeah, we've just got to do what we can.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

I'm here with the Brownlee brothers and I'm going to put it in

terms you understand - this is the final push now.

I mean, how much do you normally hold back for that last run?

Well, for us, normally, the run's the most important,

so obviously, you're holding back quite a lot. The run's where you can win the race,

so the swim and the bike are about setting you up to win that race.

And this is absolutely what's happened here, because it is

a winner-takes-all - all being the chance to go up against

Suzi Perry and that destructor of a thing.

OK, that's Jar and these are the Brownlee brothers.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

You look a little bit terrified.

-We just had to go outside and have a talk.

-Did you?

-Did you have to knock a bit of sense into them?

-Come on! Stop being so negative! We can do this!

He was like, "We're not going to win." I was like, "Come on, Chris." But he's good now, he's good.

I think we're good now. We're in a good place. We know what we've got to do to make the final.

-We've just got to beat two of the UK's finest athletes.

-I mean, easy.

-Easy.

-Theirs has been falling apart quite a bit,

-so hopefully that happens again.

-Good trash talk there.

-Don't hear that much.

-We're ready.

OK, please, give it up for Scott and Chris.

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

In the CPZ for battle six, it's Shunt.

Jar need a win here to get into the final.

Roboteers, stand by.

The Brownlees don't do losing.

They simply don't.

This is your time. You're going to do this.

Don't let him see the sides.

Scott and Chris, Real Or No Real, wheel or no wheel.

Activate!

Will that tyre hold up, I wonder?

Well, the wheel is not moving on one side freely.

That will limit their mobility,

but they've got the big spinning disc into play.

Jar, patched up, is in trouble!

Quick, he's going to come over.

Run it again.

KLAXON

Oh, yes!

Jar immobilised right from the start. I think one hit did it.

You've done him. Go for him.

I wouldn't take on the house robots, boys!

Mighty power in this blade, and that one attack just stopped Jar bot

in its tracks.

Shreds of metal and sparks, but that... Oh, my goodness me!

Look at the damage to Shunt's blade!

So, Team Arena Cleaner scoop up the points and earn themselves

a place in the grand final.

Sadly, for our world-beating athletes,

the brilliant Brownlee brothers, it wasn't to be and they join

the amazing Maggie and Team Interstellar MML as our runners-up.

Team Arena Cleaner now need to prepare themselves.

However, attacking the house robots in their last fight may well

come back to haunt them.

It's good cos there's no damage from the last one, right?

So, we're going in good, yeah.

I do feel the house robots might be after us slightly more now.

I think maybe that is true.

-Cos you've really annoyed them.

-We've annoyed them.

We've annoyed them, sorry. We've annoyed them, yeah.

But you were driving, so...

And they won't be the first team to feel the sharp end of the

house robots.

There's the horrible pink rear end of Matilda that no-one wants

to see, even in their wildest dreams, I can tell you!

And I've had a fair few about Robot Wars!

It's in DeadMetal's pincers and now the axe can come raining in.

They try and manoeuvre themselves for a run and another hit.

All the while, damage being caused.

Thor is in trouble, needs to get away.

The house robot's mean swinging axe,

which has pinned him in and dragged him into his lair.

You do not want to go into Shunt's lair, believe you me.

I have been in there.

Oh, no!

Surely not, no!

Not the Flame Pit! Please!

That's cruel! That's horrible! I tell you what, we love it!

Onto the tusks of Matilda, poor old Thor. Thor's hammer to no avail.

And heading for Thor's Valhalla.

Killalot has Gabriel in its grip.

And suddenly, it looks like

a giant white dying swan.

Ooh, down comes that terrible circular saw!

Look at the damage there.

That is 15mm of wear-, abrasion- resistant steel on that front wedge.

Out goes Thor!

If that outer skin is punctured, they're in real trouble!

I'm done.

Can't move.

Oh, no, no, no. We don't need this, Matilda.

Honestly, Matilda, you're a bully.

You're just a bully.

Time is up for the teams in the pits.

They need to get their robots up to the arena, ready to fight.

And by hook or by crook, Team Cat are ready. Sort of.

We've had a complete nightmare and we've had to do some big work

on this, so essentially, all of this shaft in here is completely twisted.

And the spinner couldn't even move. So, this is what we've done.

What we've done is we've actually made an incision in this piece of

seal here, but we couldn't actually weld it, so we just whacked it.

So, this is a weak spot for us now,

but there's nothing else we could do in the timeframe that we've got.

What we need and what we have had so far tonight are the fighting

-gods on our side in the final.

-Yes.

-We need a little bit of luck.

Basically, we've used all the Cat's nine lives up in one go.

-All of them. We are out of lives here.

-CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Whilst our finalists were busying themselves for the final,

Angela and I got a Christmas gift of our own.

During rehearsals, we got to try our hand at being roboteers.

It really is a lot harder than it looks.

Dara here behind the controls of the flipping powerful TR2 and

Angela behind the controls of Robot Wars legend Behemoth.

They're smiling now.

I feel like we should wave.

Or we could do this, couldn't we?

Can they walk the Robot Wars walk?

Boy, they can talk!

Activate!

Off to the left-hand side, Dara comes in with TR2.

Oh, oh, oh, no.

You have to steer and control, Dara, really.

-No, I'm terrible at this.

-Oh, no!

Yay!

-Oh, Dara getting in.

-Where's he gone?

-I don't know.

-You lost him on the corner.

-How am I supposed to see?

-Oh, my God!

-I retire now. I will retire now.

-No, no.

You're at it again. You're careering wildly. They're amazingly...

-Oh, stop ramming into the sidewall!

-Sorry, I thought that was tyre.

Drive against the sidewall, Angela!

Ah, is she trying to release the pit?

Yes, she does. So that's clever!

-I'm loving that. That feels good. Wait, wait.

-I'm stuck.

-You're stuck.

-You've got to be stuck. Do you want me to get you off there?

-Stuck!

-She certainly is!

-I'm doing a spin as if I've won. I haven't won!

I haven't won!

But I am spinning!

What?!

Are you over? Are you over? You're back in again.

Oh, down. Back down again.

Oh-oh-oh-oh.

-You're supposed to avoid the pits!

-OK, it's very delicate.

-It is really...

-No!

Just stay out of the arena!

-That would be my advice!

-I thought you'd left.

-I was just... Oh!

-I didn't mean to do that.

-No, you certainly didn't.

-Dara!

-You did that to yourself.

Well, Dara certainly didn't do it to her.

THEY LAUGH

Shall we just dance past each other, like idiots?

Oh! That was fantastic!

That was like a bullfight!

Not quite. Sort of a lamb fight.

Oh, now I'm out of gas!

Dara!

-I thought we were friends.

-We are friends, but outside of here.

-I need to stop with this game.

-Outside here. Oh, you have.

Do you want to try...? Flip me, go on.

-I'm trying, dude.

-OK.

-OK, fine.

-Wait, wait.

-There we go. Oh.

-Oh.

-Ooh, hello.

Hey!

-I flipped you up!

-Oh, no. Yeah, I can flip it back down again.

-Right, OK.

-I think they should close the pit.

-No, it's definitely...

-We're still on the clock. It feels like...

Whatever you do, don't quit the day job.

That was absolutely pathetic, on my behalf.

Brilliantly.

-I was pretty awful.

-Oh, my God! My mouth is dry!

It's, like, the most nerve-racking thing I've ever done.

-That was quite tense.

-That was shockingly difficult.

-Also, I totally buckled under the pressure.

-Yeah.

We'll do a physical impersonation of how our fight went.

This is how our fight went.

-This is how our fight went, like that.

-I'm reversing in the hallway.

I'll get you! I'll get you in a minute!

Any minute now!

-That was dreadful.

-That was pretty much it.

-Yeah, that was awful.

-I mean...

-Oh, I love it! I want to do it again and again and again!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...

-I demand a rematch!

-..apologies for what you've just seen.

Well? There was Dara on the aggressive, Behemoth bouncing.

108.5 kilograms of bounce.

Another good attack by Dara.

I think in main competition, they'd probably last...2.4 seconds.

And there, a gentlemanly approach to it all.

Crash.

So very gentle.

And not good enough, really.

But all good fun.

You'll notice

I didn't get a try.

I'd be deadly in there.

I'd smash and crash.

Time now for our final.

Four teams began.

After six battles and a lot of flying shrapnel and wheels,

only one can become tonight's Battle Of The Stars Champion.

Our finalists:

Radio 1's Scott Mills and Chris Stark

versus Suzi Perry and Dallas Campbell.

The Radio 1 team's first fight

destroyed Interstellar MML's chance of launching

a winning campaign.

I'm just trying to calm down.

It was so crazy in there.

The Suzi Perry team took on the Brownlee brothers,

and it was that brutal spinner that came out on top.

I got a paw to it,

-but we didn't have a proper catfight.

-Yeah.

When the two big spinners first met, it was first blood to Suzi,

after punishing Scott and Chris's driving skills...

..leaving them with a battered and bruised robot.

It didn't go to plan at all.

But it was a daring attack on Sir Killalot

that destroyed Suzi's winning run.

That's all knackered.

That wall has completely cracked the gearbox.

Come on! Come on!

Next, Scott and Chris took control against the

Brownlees' golden hammer, before taking on house robot Shunt as well.

You've broken him.

So it's all down to this,

a battle between the two biggest weapons in the competition,

spinner versus spinner,

and at stake - the title of champion and the Robot Wars trophy.

Of battle, they say, to the victor belongs the spoils,

and it's certainly true in Robot Wars.

One of our finalists tonight will leave as champions

and hopefully intact,

the other, most likely in fragments.

So one final brutal battle between the Cat and Arena Cleaner

will decide who becomes our Robot Wars champion.

Our esteemed MC, as ever, is Jonathan Pearce,

this time in a Santa hat.

Our final battle tonight is going to be messy.

Two of the biggest spinners in Robot Wars' history

piloted by two novice drivers.

I'm under the desk as we speak! Braver than me and the CPZ,

it'll be a Christmas miracle if he survives, it's Sir Killalot.

CROWD: Three, two, one...

Off we go.

Both machines have had damage.

Both have mighty weapons.

The Cat's horizontal spinner is the heavier,

but they've lost a tyre.

They need now to manoeuvre to get

themselves out of trouble.

Scott and Chris have been thinking deeply about this.

That's always dangerous, to be honest.

Bang!

Look at the power of both spinners together!

Slam! Tyres damaged on both now.

Patched up, put back in the arena.

Slam!

Arena Cleaner the more aggressive

and the more mobile.

And coming in slowly,

in a measured way...

Go round the other side? Try and get the wheel?

They're trying to find a weak spot.

Try and get the wheel...

Ooh, the Cat's other tyre comes off!

So they are now at the mercy of Arena Cleaner.

What a heavyweight battle this has been.

KLAXON

Sethu's call.

Well done, lads.

You've won. You've won Robot Wars.

Arena Cleaner has done it.

They are our Robot Wars celebrity champion.

Congratulations to them.

There's a little bit of...

-Where's it taking it?

-..to tidy up.

It may seem cruel but, you know, they've been beaten,

and now Killalot can have fun.

-Toasted Cat!

-Ew...

-That's illegal.

-Certainly is.

You are going to go down for that.

Ohh!

They've been very good competitors,

Suzi and the team.

JONATHAN CHUCKLES

Throwing a Frisbee. A steep learning curve for Arena Cleaner,

but they don't seem to have learned to stay away from the house robots.

Look at this!

Killalot's memory is long.

Killalot's evil knows no bounds.

Scott looks pensive.

He should be...

..because Killalot will be merciless.

I think we're being taught a lesson.

You're going to get your bottom smacked.

The champions cheeky, an irritant to Killalot and the house robots.

And now, quite simply, everyone,

it is time for Robot Wars' revenge.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Brute force and power,

and Arena Cleaner came out on top.

Tyres shredded, the Cat worthy opponents.

But as Scott Mills would say,

"Love you! Bye."

Ah, Suzi and the Cat.

It was a lot to even get back into the final,

-a lot of damage to come back from after the last...

-So much damage,

and we didn't think the spinner would work,

and we were just happy to make the final,

and, you know, they did great, and they really did deserve to win.

-Happy to lose to these guys?

-No, not happy to lose to them!

You grudgingly admit they may have deserved to win.

You won it well in the end.

-I can't believe we've won.

-It...

-It's ridiculous.

You genuinely, really...

Yeah. This is amazing.

This is what we hoped would happen but never thought would.

I'm going to present this to you, and you fully deserve it.

Our champions, ladies and gentlemen, well done!

-Thank you so much, and goodnight!

-Goodnight.