Red Planet

Will be a “social first” show.

Channel 4 is rebooting GamesMaster.

A note on Channel 4’s sales website reveals the plan to bring GamesMaster to E4.

It’s seeking a brand partner for the job. “GamesMaster will be a social first show, followed by an E4 TX and All 4 box set,” the pitch reveals.

There’s a description of the format, too, which reveals this reboot will revolve around celebrities competing against each other until a winner is declared.

Here’s the official blurb:

“This year, five bold celebrities will embark on a gaming odyssey but only one can go on to become the GamesMaster champion and take home the Golden Joystick.

“They’ll undergo challenges, races and fights in virtual battle across all genres of gaming under the watchful eye of the all-knowing GamesMaster.

“Each week at least one celeb will be eliminated… Over the three epsisodes [sic], five will become one and the winner will be crowned. They’ll play each other at everything from iconic classics to brand new releases. We’ll also be serving tonnes of extra gaming-themed content to our audiences to keep them coming back for more.”

The list of “social segments” could include The Contender, Meet The Gamer, Gaming Odyssey, GamesMaster trailers, Speed Runs, Extended Play-throughs, New release previews, Tips from the GamesMaster, and Gaming news.

The original GamesMaster show, which ran from 1992 to 1998 and was fronted, for the most part, by presenter Dominik Diamond, revolved around members of the public competing in video games, with a tips section from Sir Patrick Moore, who played the Games Master.

But each episode would also have a celebrity turn up to play a game they weren’t interested in. Who can forget Annabel Croft playing Pro Tennis Tour 2?

Ellie Gibson’s fantastic feature, GamesMaster: The Inside Story, is for me the best piece ever written about the show.

Who could play the new Games Master? There’s an image on Channel 4’s sales website with Sir Patrick Stewart placed next to the GamesMaster logo. E4 may be getting ahead of itself there.

Will Channel 4 find the brand partner it’s looking for? Will Sir Patrick Stewart notice his agent has put him forward to play the Games Master? Will David James play Tekken against yet another celebrity with nothing better to do? Tune in next week to find out.