''Scrapheap Challenge'' is a British

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

where teams of contestants build a working machine that can perform a specific task, using materials available in a

scrapyard A wrecking yard ( Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard ( Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are bro ...

. The series features teams of four or five members who are given ten hours (based around

sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spr ...

) to build vehicles or machines to complete a specific task, such as a

trebuchet A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weight ...

, or complete a racecourse whilst acting as a

gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rot ...

. The programme ran for eleven series and was originally shown on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. The format was exported to the United States, where it was known as ''Junkyard Wars''. The US show was also produced by RDF Media, and was originally shown on

The Learning Channel TLC is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by the ow ...

. Repeats have aired on another Discovery network, the

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, man ...

Format

A typical episode featured a competition between two 4-person teams, each consisting of three regular members (with one designated the captain), plus an expert in the field related to the particular challenge. The judge for each episode is typically a specialist in (non-scrap) versions of the machine being constructed. The challenges are many and varied, usually involving teams constructing a machine to achieve a particular objective. The final showdown usually consisted of either head-to-head races or individually run timed events. Examples of challenges included making a jet car, a bridging machine, a car-crusher, and a machine to fling a British Leyland Mini as far as possible. Assistant producer Eve Kay had the idea for the show after watching a scene in the movie ''

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...

'', where

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

engineers had only a short period of time to construct a carbon dioxide filter out of parts available on the space capsule. The show also drew its inspiration from the 1980s TV series ''

The Great Egg Race ''The Great Egg Race'' was a BBC television series, that ran from 1979 to 1986 broadcast on BBC 2. Twenty-two episodes were produced and presented by six presenters over the life of the show. Programme ''The Great Egg Race'' was a BBC televisi ...

''.

History and results

The UK pilot show was presented by

Sally Gray Constance Vera Browne, Baroness Oranmore and Browne (''née'' Stevens; 14 February 1915 – 24 September 2006), commonly known as Sally Gray, was an English film actress of the 1930s and 1940s. Her obituary in ''The Irish Times'' described he ...

with the first full series presented by

Robert Llewellyn Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956) is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He plays the mechanoid Kryten in the sci-fi television sitcom '' Red Dwarf'' and formerly presented the engineering gameshow '' Scrapheap Challenge'' ...

, joined in series 2–4 by producer

Cathy Rogers Cathy Rogers (born 28 May 1968) is an English television executive, producer, presenter and musician. She is best known as the presenter of the British reality competition series '' Scrapheap Challenge'' and its American counterpart ''Junkyar ...

, and in series 5–10 by

Lisa Rogers Lisa Rogers (born 7 September 1971) is a Welsh television presenter. She has appeared in films, television programmes, theatre and radio. Early life While at school, she took jobs in a chocolate factory, as a farrier, and, while studying drama at ...

(no relation). For series 11, both hosts were replaced by former ''Scrapheap'' contestant and judge

Dick Strawbridge Lieutenant Colonel Richard Francis Strawbridge, MBE (born 3 September 1959) is a British television personality, engineer and former army officer. He is often referred to as "Colonel Dick". Early life The third of seven children of Jennifer ...

. Series 1 was titled ''Scrapheap'', and pitted the same two teams against each other each week. From series 2, the show was renamed ''Scrapheap Challenge'' and featured a

knockout tournament A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

between teams drawn from the general public. From series 3, a champion of champions contest was initiated. Series 3 and 4 included a single US team in the field. Series 3 had The Nerds, and series 4 had ''The Mulewrights'' brought in at the last minute when The Barley Pickers were unable to travel due to the Foot and Mouth Crisis. Both US teams made it to the final round. * Series 1 (1998)The series was tied 3–3 * Series 2 (1999)Winners: Megalomaniacs * Series 3 (2000)Winners: Brothers in Arms; Champion of Champions: Megalomaniacs * Series 4 (2001)Winners: Cat-alysts; Champion of Champions: Cat-alysts * Series 5 (2002)Winners: Barley Pickers; Champion of Champions: Cat-alysts * Series 6 (2003)Winners: The Destroyers; Champion of Champions: Cat-alysts * Series 7 (2004)Winners: Anoraks; Champion of Champions: Anoraks * Series 8 (2005)Winners: Powerlifters; Champion of Champions: Powerlifters * Series 9 (2007)Winners: Woof Justice; Champion of Champions: Woof Justice * Series 10 (2008)Winners: Rusty Regiment; Champion of Champions: Woof Justice * Series 11 (2009/10)Winners: The Wheel Nuts; Champion of Champions: N/A Series 9 was shown in two-halves. The first eight episodes aired between 15 April and 3 June, the remaining episodes were between 4 November and 23 December 2007. Series 11 saw Dick Strawbridge (formerly a competitor from series 1–3) return as an expert and judge, replacing Robert Llewellyn. The show was now produced by RDF Bristol and Executive producer Jane Lomas and series producer John Macnish had to deliver the new series on a fraction of the budget of previous series. As well as a change in presenters the format of the series was altered dramatically with teams of 'scrappers' from across the UK competing against Dick Strawbridge's home team known as 'Dick's Diamonds'. At the end of each episode a battle to determine the week's champion scrappers took place in a public venue in front of crowds of cheering fans. Series 11 of the UK show had its world premiere in Australia on

ABC2 ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC2 and ABC Comedy) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of general entertainment pr ...

, with episode 1 airing on 1 July 2009.ABC2 schedule Wed 1 July 2009 'Scrapheap Challenge Chariot Jousting'
/ref>

Spin-offs

Full Metal Challenge

A spin-off from 2003 that had teams from around the world. Teams had a fixed budget and a month to build a vehicle to compete in a varied set of trials, such as auto "bowling", a race through a flooded course, a "car coaster", car "sumo" and other tests. The winners were the Aquaholics from the UK. Hosted by

and

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rol ...

, it lasted one season.

Scrappy Races (Rally)

Another spin-off series was instituted from 2004 to 2006 and was broadcast following the main series. It was also presented by Robert Llewellyn and Lisa Rogers. It involved several teams being allocated a budget and several weeks to construct a road-legal vehicle which, if classified as a car, must pass the Single Vehicle Approval test. However, a few of the teams managed to avoid taking the SVA test, either by using an unmodified car chassis, such as the Chaos Crew in Series 2, who placed the body shell from an ice cream truck onto the unchanged chassis of a Range Rover, or by using their livelihood to classify their vehicle as agricultural equipment (The Barley Pickers in series 1). The teams then drove to various tests in-convoy across the UK where they were given eight hours at a local scrapheap to modify their vehicles for the testalthough, for all but the final test, the vehicles had to be returned to road-legal condition afterwards. In Series 3, four teams were given vehicles and participated in 5 challenges in the

Galloway Forest Park Galloway Forest Park is a forest park operated by Forestry and Land Scotland, principally covering woodland in Dumfries and Galloway. It is claimed to be the largest forest in the UK. The park was granted Dark Sky Park status ("Galloway Forest ...

. They had to adapt the vehicles to perform two different tasks in each episode. This series was unusual for Scrapheap in that the build time was added together with the time taken to complete each stage. * Series 1 (2004)Winners: Chaos Crew * Series 2 (2005)Winners: Chaos Crew * Series 3 (2006)Winners: Maximus

Transmissions

Series

Specials

US version

The US version of the show was titled ''Junkyard Wars'' and was presented by George Gray (season 1) and Tyler Harcott (season 2–5), joined by

(season 1–3) and Karyn Bryant (season 4–5). * Season 1 (2001)Winners: Long Brothers * Season 2 (2001)Winners: Miami Gearheads * Season 3 (2002)Winners: The Pit Crew * Season 4 (2002)Winners: Kentucky Fried Family * Season 5 (2003)Winners: Jet Doctors Former

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...

Governor

Ed Schafer Edward Thomas Schafer (born August 8, 1946) is an American businessman and politician who was the 30th governor of North Dakota from 1992 to 2000. Schafer also served as the 29th United States Secretary of Agriculture from 2008 to 2009, appoint ...

was one of many notable people appearing on the show. Schafer was on during the fifth season as a member of the High Flyers which lost to the Jet Doctors in the Fifth Series finale. The first season was filmed in the UK; it included a competition between the grand winner of UK series 3, Megalomaniacs and the US season 1 champions the Long Brothers (who won). The first season of the show was nominated for an Emmy award. The show was reformatted as ''Junkyard Mega-Wars'' to consist of two regular captains, who each select three people to help in the challenge. The show was presented by

Rossi Morreale Rossi Morreale (born April 27, 1977) is a television personality and former college football player. Career Morreale was a starting wide receiver/punt returner for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team, lettering from 1997&nda ...

and

Bobbi Sue Luther Bobbi Sue Luther (born August 27, 1978) is an American model, actress, film producer, and host of TLC's '' Junkyard Mega Wars''. Life and career Luther was born in Annapolis, Maryland. She played an Orion Slave Girl on '' Star Trek: Enterpri ...

. * Season 1 (2002)Captains: Bowser and Crash * Season 2 (2004)Captains: Chris Hackett and (retired)

References

''Cathy Rogers Interview about the origins of Scrapheap Challenge''

External links

* * *{{UKGameshow, Scrapheap_Challenge 1998 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings 1990s British game shows 2000s British game shows 2010s British game shows Channel 4 game shows Engineering competitions English-language television shows Television series by Banijay