The Generation Game returning to BBC

UK pubcaster the BBC is bringing back The Generation Game, a family game show that’s been off air since 2001.

Former Great British Bake Off presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins will host the reboot, which BBC Studios is producing.

The Generation Game is based on a classic Dutch format, One of the Eight, and first aired in the UK in 1971. It was taken off air 40 years later, with specials and retrospectives keeping the brand alive locally since then.

Comedian and actor Miranda Hart was linked to a reprisal in 2014 and 2015, but this did not come to fruition.

The format sees pairs of family members performing fun tasks and games in order to reach a conveyor belt round, in which they have to recall items in order to win prizes.

Celebrity guests will be involved in the new four-part show, which BBC director of content Charlotte Moore and controller of entertainment commissioning Kate Phillips co-commissioned. Nic McNeilis is executive producer for BBC Studios.

“The Generation Game is an iconic BBC One show, so to be able to bring it back for today’s audience with Mel and Sue overseeing things is a wonderful moment for the channel,” said Moore.

BBC Studios’ editor of special events and formats, Guy Freeman, said the format was the show that, when asked, audiences “most wanted to see back on their screens”.

The news comes days after it emerged long-serving BBC entertainment exec Alan Tyler was leaving the Corporation, as Broadcast reported on Friday.

His departure comes after Phillips was handed the entertainment chief role a year ago. Tyler had come close to landing the job.