The BBC has just commissioned a third series of Time Commanders, and anyone outside the UK or under the age of 20 has no idea what is happening right now.
Allow me to explain: Time Commanders was a history show disguised as a game show that ran on the BBC in the early 2000s. Contestants were tasked with playing out famous battles from Roman history, to see if they could win as history tells us, or go off book and do something different.
The battles themselves were then shown in a heavily modified version of Rome: Total War. Oh, and Top Gear’s Richard Hammond was the host – it was a crazy time.
Only on the BBC can you get an educational program tucked away inside a show that was basically people playing Total War while Richard Hammond made jokes.
But to the point: IGN has reported that the beeb is now actively seeking contestants for a new series of the show. If you ever watched Time Commanders and reckoned you could easily smash it, then this is your big chance.
To apply, head over here to find out more and throw your hat into the ring. Bear in mind that you need to be 18 or older – though I can’t imagine anyone under 18 is going to remember or care about Time Commanders in the first place.
The closing date for entry is September 1, so if you’re desperate for some computer generated historically accurate war-faring fun, I’d get moving.
In the meantime, look at Time Commanders. Just look at it – the UK in the early 00’s was a truly wild time.
Between this and the Robot Wars revival, I think the BBC might have realised that nostalgia pays the license fees.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.