Mutant Machines
Contents |
Host
Co-host
Engineering expert: Professor Martin Smith
Broadcast
Granada Men & Motors, 5 January to 12 April 2004 (15 episodes in 1 series)
Synopsis
A mechanical challenge show in the vein of Scrapheap Challenge, in a compact half-hour format with a knockout series structure. Two teams of four were given eight hours to make a machine out of parts from two or more unrelated donor machines, such as motorbikes, farming machinery, a fork lift truck, tumble drier, chainsaws, disability scooters, cars etc to compete against each other in a final challenge, and the Mutant Machine achieving the better performance won. There were eight heats, four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and the final making fifteen episodes in all.
Trivia
All fifteen episode series can be seen on YouTube: Episode 1. Piledriver, 2. Tyre Hoist, 3. Paint Sprayer, 4. Concrete Mixer, 5. Log Splitter, 6. Recovery Vehicle, 7. Hay Bale Lifter, 8. Trike, 9. Push-Me-Pull-You, 10. Big foot Truck, 11. Limousine, 12. Trike, 13. Push-me-Pull-you, 14. Big foot (wide track) car, 15. 20 foot Limousine. Sadly there was no second series. There were some last minute changes to the challenges and the sequence the episodes were broadcast in. The Push-Me-Pull-You challenge for each team was to create a four wheel drive, four wheel steering car by cutting two cars in half, discarding the rear halves, and welding the two halves with their engines together.
The programmes were recorded in a barn in the middle of nowhere (actually 45 miles west of Birmingham), with open doors between November 2003 and February 2004. This should explain why the presenters and team members were well wrapped up. The early shows were being broadcast before all the programmes had been recorded. The Presenter was Louise Brady who is known for presenting car and motorcycle shows. The Technical Expert Presenter was Professor Martin Smith who was probably best known for being a judge on Robot Wars and Techno Games. He also had a lot of experience tuning motor scooters, motor bikes and cars. He had modified a standard 997cc Ford Anglia by fitting a 1650cc engine, then filtting a supercharger, a stronger close ratio gearbox and a racing clutch. He had also maintained a Lotus Elite and two Lotus Excels, one of which was featured on Top Gear.
The series was produced and directed by Richard Uridge for ACP Television. The Executive Producer was Sandra Keating. The series was created for Granada Sky Broadcasting and broadcast on Granada Men and Motors on Wednesday evenings at 9:30 pm.
Pictures
Martin Smith and Louise Brady