BBC bringing back Mel & Sue’s Generation Game despite being panned by critics
THE BBC are bringing back The Generation Game for another outing — despite an absolute mauling by viewers.
The rebooted classic, hosted by Mel Giedroyc, 50, and Sue Perkins, 48, was blasted by fans who switched off in their millions for the second of two episodes.
The revival was so poor that bosses cut the number of shows in half — after initially filming four — because they thought they were not good enough.
But BBC bosses have decided to give the gameshow, which features pairs of family members across generations competing to win prizes, another go after it rated well in their own audience research.
A BBC source said: “The BBC have booked a new filming slot for Mel and Sue to have another go at the Generation Game.
“They are going to mix things up a bit while staying true to the format. They don’t want to be remembered as the hosts of a flop, so said they were at least take part in another episode to sort out the problems.
“The BBC are then hopeful that Mel and Sue will both commit to another series once they’ve done a successful run-through.
“It’s thought the show will have a new producer, and they’ll look at nixing the celebrity panel which didn’t really work.”
The show, which had originally booked comic Miranda Hart to front the show, was riddled with issues since its comeback was revealed.
In its heydey, when it was hosted by Larry Grayson, it was watched by more than 25million.
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But the reworking of the game show, previously fronted by Sir Bruce Forsyth lost more than a third of its audience from the opener.
The second episode managed a peak of just 3.9million after pulling in 6.1million for the debut episode a week earlier, a drop of 2.2million.
The Sun also revealed how bosses had been forced to use canned laughter to boost the audience’s reactions after gags by former Bake Off duo Mel and Sue fell flat.