Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

UKTV commissions Battle in the Box for Dave and UKTV Play from Interstellar

24/08/2023

24th August 2023

Jimmy Carr confirmed as host of brand new show

Exciting new format from Koreas Something Special will see pairs of comedians and celebrities go into battle

UKTV today announces Battle in The Box (8x60), a ground-breaking new comedy reality gameshow for award-winning entertainment channel Dave and free streaming service UKTV Play. Produced by Interstellar, the new series is based on a hit Korean format from Seoul based format agency Something Special, and will be hosted by Jimmy Carr.

Battle in the Box will see pairs of comics and some of the nations favourite celebrities battle it out for pride, prizes and most importantly floorspace, in this comedy entertainment and reality hybrid. The eight-episode series will comprise of four tense double bills which will see eight pairs spend 24 hours in the box.

When the clock starts two celebrity teams will move into a completely empty box divided by a moveable wall with nothing but a toothbrush. Once inside, they will only have cameras and each other for company - no beds, tables, chairs or home comforts. Over the course of the day and night, they will need to earn everything by winning a series of physical and mental challenges all set by the orchestrator of this chaos, Jimmy Carr. Winning a game means more space and luxuries for the lucky duo. But theres a catch: more room for one team means less for the losers, as the Boxs sliding wall forces them into an ever-smaller space. And, with games set around the clock, the tide - and the wall - can turn at any time.

Overseeing the proceedings will be host Jimmy Carr who said:

We all know comedians are at their best when theyre tired, hungry and lacking the most basic of human comforts. So, I cant wait to see how theyll fare in the box, with space at a premium and cameras watching their every move. What could possibly go right?

Living in a pressure cooker like no other, Battle in the Box will test the endurance and ingenuity of some of the UKs biggest names from comedy, TV and entertainment.

Battle in the Box is commissioned for Dave and UKTV by Mark Iddon, senior commissioning editor and Jason Dawson, commissioning executive and ordered for Dave by Cherie Hall, channel director and Hilary Rosen, director of commissioning. Battle in the Box is produced by Interstellar. Executive producers are Jamie Ormerod and David Williams and the series producer is Tom Corrigan. Filming starts next month and contestants will be announced nearer to transmission on Dave and UKTV Play.

Mark Iddon said:

Finally, we get to answer the classic age-old question of what would happen if Jimmy Carr locked two pairs of comedians in a giant box for 24 hrs to battle to the death (ok, not death) whilst a moving wall threatens to make them live in a space the size of a photo booth? Because, you know, there is nothing like a wall inching in on your personal space to bring out the best in comedy!

Cherie Hall said:

This format balances the perfect mix of challenge in the gameplay, jeopardy via the moving and claustrophobic wall, and a tonne of fun and comedy from the trials and tribulations of our celebs being locked together in a box. An exciting launch for Dave in 2024.

Ormerod and Williams of Interstellar said:

Battle in the Box combines our two favourite genres comedy and reality, in one stand out format that challenges comics and celebs to think outside the box while living inside one. Were delighted to be partnering with Jimmy Carr and the team at Dave to bring it to UK screens.

Jin Woo Hwang and Praise ChanMi Shin of Something Special said:

Something Special is thrilled to collaborate with UKTV and Interstellar on Battle in the Box and see our exciting format come to life on the screen. Audiences love watching celebrities go through tough challenges and it will be fascinating to watch how they strategize to secure their space.

Battle in the Box comes to Dave and UKTV Play next year and joins an array of returning UKTV Originals for the channel including upcoming series Big Zuus Big Eats, David Mitchells Outsiders and Meet the Richardsons.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

For more information, please contact:

Gem Pinkney Head of Consumer Comms, UKTV

Ben Duncan - Consumer Comms Manager, UKTV

About Dave

Sky 111/811, Virgin 127/194, Freesat 157, Freeview 19, Freesat 157

Dave is the award-winning entertainment channel home to a veritable feast of UKTV Original comedy hits from some of the biggest stars in the UK. Comedy entertainment shows like BAFTA-winning Big Zuus Big Eats, Outsiders, Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, Hypothetical, Comedians Giving Lectures, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, sit alongside scripted comedies such as Meet the Richardsons, We Are Not Alone and Sneakerhead.

But Dave isnt just restricted to television screens. Theres exclusive online content, with YouTubes Outsiders: Gone Wild with David Mitchell and Get Off My Phone! featuring Grace Campbell, Thanyia Moore, Ania Magliano, Travis Jay and more, as well as Facebook series The Comedy Guide To Life, Bad Advice with Olga Koch and BackChat. Daves partnership with CALM has led to exclusive commissions and innovative online and marketing campaigns such as #BeTheMateYoudWant. Dave also crowns its winner of Daves Joke of the Fringe at Edinburgh each year.

About UKTV Play

UKTV Play is an on demand TV service providing instant access to shows from UKTVs free-to-air channels - Dave, W, Yesterday and Drama.

With the easy-to-use UKTV Play app you can browse and stream hundreds of shows for free via your computer, tablet or smart phone. You can also watch on the telly thanks to Freeview Play, Amazon Fire TV, YouView, Samsung TV, Apple TV, Freesat, NOW and Roku. If youre a Sky or Virgin Media customer, shows from other great UKTV channels - Gold, Alibi, and Eden - are also on the menu. uktvplay.co.uk

About UKTV

UKTV has been at
LINK: https://corporate.uktv.co.uk/news/article/uktv-commissions-groundbreak...
See more stories from uktv

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

13/11/2026

E1 Series Brings Its Remote-First Broadcast Model to Miami for Season Finale

The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...

13/11/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 39: Carolina Hurricanes Christine Williams & Jason Danby - Celebrating a Stanley Cup in Raleigh

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

13/11/2026

Benson Boone to Headline Entertainment at Discover NHL Winter Classic

Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...

13/11/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces Ambisonic Microphone for Immersive Spatial Audio

Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...

13/11/2026

The Studio B&H and Riedel to Power SMPTE MTS Solutions Hub

SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...

13/11/2026

HPA Sets 2027 Tech Retreat Theme Around a Changing Industry

The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...

13/11/2026

Football Manager 27 Touch Joins Apple Arcade, with Plants vs. Zombies, Prince of Persia Added Dec. 3

Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...

13/11/2026

MotoGP and ESPN Announce Two-Year Media Rights Agreement for U.S. and Latin America

MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...

13/11/2026

Apple Sports Adds UFC Ahead of UFC 334

Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...

13/11/2026

NBA Names Fanatics Studios Multiyear Creative and Event Production Partner for NBA All-Star

The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...

13/11/2026

From ManningCast to McAfee to Star Wars: ESPN, Disney Pull Back the Curtain on Super Bowl LXI Plans

ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...

13/11/2026

Battle in the Bronx: YES Network Presents 2026 Cortaca Jug at Yankee Stadium

Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...

13/11/2026

HLabs reveal the CL089

Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...

13/11/2026

Freedom of Choice White Paper

Download Now! To view the white paper, please enter the following details: -- First Name* First Name Company* Country* Please select your countryA...

13/11/2026

Cruz Schedules Confirmation Vote for FCC Nominee Thumann-Severs

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

Yamaha Acquires Virtual Production Specialist Disguise

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

MyStation App Emulates TV Network' Marketplace

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

Blue Lucy integrates with Comcast Technology Solutions Vi...

Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...

13/11/2026

Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max

Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max Brie Clayton November 12, 2026 0 Comments First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...

13/11/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone

Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone Brie Clayton November 12, 2026 0 Comments New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...

13/11/2026

Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music

Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...

13/11/2026

Hub: Despite AI, More Viewers Still Rely on Word of Mouth and Trailers to Find New TV Shows

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...

13/11/2026

Jack Smith Joins Madhive as Chief Product and Technology Officer

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

Operative Names Brian Beirne as Senior VP, Commercial Growth

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

Former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler to Advise AI Startup

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Honors Dr. Yiyan Wu with the 2026 Jules Cohen Award

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...

13/11/2026

Vizrt Acquires Chyron

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

Samsung Ads to Offer 3 New Interactive Formats

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

HPA Retreat to Explore Changing Shape of Industry

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

The Studio B&H, Riedel to Equip SMPTE Media Tech Summit

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

Tegna Promotes 3 Sales Executives to President and GM

Share {alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...

13/11/2026

Amagi and Golden Times Media Technology to Bring Chinese...

Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...

13/11/2026

CGI and Cedar Broadcast and Communications deploy advance...

CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...

13/11/2026

The Studio BH and Riedel Communications Power the SMPTE...

SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...

13/11/2026

iWedia Brings Software-First DRAM Optimization to Android...

iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...

13/11/2026

Apple HomeView available today - UPDATE - Posted on 13 November 2026

Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...

13/11/2026

How AI Is Helping Care Teams Get Patients the Right Care, Sooner

From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients. Health systems and startups...

12/11/2026

The Software-Defined Shift: A Discussion on the Technologies Reshaping Live Sports Production

Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...

12/11/2026

SVG Students to Watch: Addison Carnow, University of North Carolina

The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...

12/11/2026

Gracenote Survey: 78% of Viewers 18-24 Want a Single Program Guide Across Streaming Services

Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...

12/11/2026

RTL Deutschland and NHL Expand Partnership, Bringing NHL Monday Night Hockey to Free-to-Air TV in Germany

RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...

12/11/2026

Clear-Com Supports Global Student Broadcast On Air 2026 With Station-IC, Eclipse HX and FreeSpeak Cell

Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...

12/11/2026

uniqFEED Opens Remote Operations Center in Madrid for LaLiga Virtual Advertising

uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...

12/11/2026

Disney, ESPN and NBA Present Third Dunk the Halls Animated Christmas Day Game

Disney, ESPN and the NBA will present Dunk the Halls, the third real-time animated NBA game using Sony's Beyond Sports data visualization technology, on Chr...

12/11/2026

Van Wagner Launches RELAY Digital Platform for College Athletics Websites and Apps

Van Wagner has launched Van Wagner RELAY, a digital platform for official athlet...

12/11/2026

Vizrt Acquires Chyron in Major Consolidation of Broadcast Graphics Market

Deal brings together two of the industry's most established graphics brands and significantly expands Vizrt's footprint in U.S. sports and regional broa...

12/11/2026

Euro TV Upgrades OB Van with Lawo mc36 MkII and VSM

Euro TV Production GmbH of Austria has upgraded its outside broadcast vehicle with Lawo technology. The mc 36 Classic console in service since 2019 was replaced...

12/11/2026

Tagboard Launches Spark Resize Beta to Convert Graphics to New Aspect Ratios

Tagboard has launched Spark Resize, an AI-assisted tool now in beta that takes an existing graphic and produces a new version for a different aspect ratio or sc...