Game on Grandparents, a brand new kids esports TV show, has aired its first episode this morning on British children’s TV channel CBBC.
In the show, girls and boys must train up their rookie gaming grandparents to take part in an esports tournament. And while their grandparents are busy practising, the children have to take on their roles about the house from washing up to walking the dog, to entertaining grandma’s friends for the afternoon.
Throughout the series, 18 sets of teams will battle it out to be named Game on Grandparents champions. They compete in a variety of family-friendly games including Minecraft, Just Dance, Wii Ski, Mario Golf, Mario Kart, Wipeout, Gran Turismo, Super Smash Bros and Splatoon.
Along the way they are given a little bit of help from gaming celebrities including, Ali-A, Yammy, Sanna, Jelly, Blackpanthaa, Adam Savage, Vikkstar, Ruby Rube and more, who have a combined reach of over 85m followers on YouTube.
Joining this line-up is Game on Grandparents host, Julia Hardy, known for the Top Gear Gaming Show and the BBC Sounds podcast, This Game Changed My Life, and esports royalty Miles Ross, commentator for the Call of Duty World League and former pro Halo player, offering commentary throughout.
The first episode of the show aired this morning at 9.15am BST on CBBC and BBC iPlayer, and will run every Monday morning for the next two weeks, with episodes available to watch again on BBC iPlayer.
Game on Grandparents has been produced by Electric Robin, part of Banijay group.
Julia Hardy, Game on Grandparents, host said: “It’s been such a pleasure to see all of our families spend time together and learn from each other, all whilst creating a memory that they’ll never forget. I mean, who would forget playing on an esports stage in front of a live studio audience just like the pros?”
In other UK TV gaming developments, late last year E4 announced a new-look GamesMaster show featuring Frankie Ward, and Sir Trevor McDonald OBE as the new GamesMaster.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
