Sunday evening show offers an aerial take on hit Robot Wars with teams building flying machines before pitting them against rivals

A new drone-building series called Airheads is due to air on Sunday nights on BBC2 in the key Top Gear slot at 8pm.



The corporation may be hoping to recapture some of the success of the popular technology show Robot Wars with the launch of the new drone-based series.



While there is no suggestion that it is a replacement for Top Gear – it is scheduled to begin after the hit motoring show was due to finish its run before it was postponed following Jeremy Clarkson’s suspension – Airheads is likely to appeal to the same male audiences as the car show.

Robot Wars ran on BBC2 between 1998 and 2003 before moving to Channel 5 for a single season, and featured teams of amateur and professional ‘roboteers’ constructing their own machines which were then pitted against each other in an arena.



Airheads features three teams of drone enthusiasts who have to build a UAV and compete with each other in a studio and on location.



Only the first challenge – a race – has been revealed.



The programme is being made by Graham Norton’s company So Television and in its application form for contestants it says the series will be “shown on BBC2 Sundays at 8pm” – the slot that Top Gear occupies when it is on air.

Airheads is one of a number of new entertainment shows being made by the BBC, including a new Saturday night BBC1 show called Can’t Touch This, which follows in the footsteps of assault course shows such as Total Wipeout, and Five Star Family Reunion, which reunites long lost families in a five-star location.



Nick Knowles is due to host a pilot show called Perfect Match in which couples try to match the right answers to the right questions against the clock to win money, along with a second eight-part run of national lottery-based show Who Dares Wins, which will include a Eurovision special.



Another national lottery-based quiz show Win Your Wish List, hosted by actor Shane Ritchie, is also due to return, along with more of Dale Winton’s In It to Win It.

Meanwhile, BBC4 has commissioned The Hive – a 13-part “smart, play-along quiz”, according to the BBC, where the answer to every question is literally staring contestants in the face.

BBC Entertainment commissioning editor Alan Tyler said: “We are delighted to be working with producers across the UK to bring such a terrific range of both new and much loved entertainment programmes to our audiences across all our channels. These commissions are another sign of the BBC’s commitment to producing top quality programmes from around the country.”