In an era of doom-scrolling on social media, traditional Saturday Night telly for all the family to enjoy is still well and truly alive.

Some of the biggest include The Wheel, Michael McIntyre’s Big Show and Gladiators.

What is the one thing all three have in common?

They’re all run by the same production company: Hungry Bear Media. We spoke to co-owner Dan Baldwin, the husband of TV personality Holly Willoughby.

“We’re called Hungry Bear because when I went to university I really wanted to get on the Media course and in my interview I said ‘I was hungry to learn, hungry to succeed and hungry to get better.’ When you want to work in TV, you have to be hungry to do all of those things”, says Dan, who is Managing Director and started his TV career working on a teen show called Love Bites as a researcher, skipping the traditional starting job of a runner.

Bringing back Gladiators

Most recently, the company produced the show, Gladiators. After years of varying success across a number of different channels, Gladiators was brought back to our screens by Hungry Bear Media in January 2024 and has had overwhelming success since its return.

“As humans we’re getting fitter and living longer. We knew something with fitness at it’s heart like Gladiators was right for a return, or at least we felt it was!”

“The idea was pitched and fortunately, the BBC loved the idea of bringing it back, so it was ironing out all the details (and there were a lot of them) to make it all happen.

“Once we got to that point it was about keeping Gladiators as nostalgic as possible and treading that fine line between the old Gladiators and bringing it up to date into this century.”

The revamped series has seen advanced modern technology such as LED lighting, projections in the arena, plus a couple of brand new games, combined with staples from previous series’ such as the original games, original theme tune, and the new Gladiators appearing in light blue and red lycra as before.

The reaction to the revamped series of Gladiators is something that was not expected for Dan, who actually worked on the junior Gladiators show when he was just starting out in the industry.

“None of us expected the reaction, it’s been absolutely huge and everyone’s loved it.

“People are having Gladiator parties on Saturday nights, they have fallen in love with the programme all over again. People seemed to have really embraced it, which is amazing to see, and I feel like we’ve done a good job with it.”

A typical day on set

Dan is the Executive Producer of all their shows, and a typical day recording Gladiators sees him arrive between mid-morning and leave when recording finishes around mid-evening.

Between his arrival and his departure there is so much to do. Pre-meetings about the day’s record, many talks with the different teams on set, chats with the Gladiators themselves, meetings with the director, and meetings with the hosts.

Filming each episode at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield usually takes between six and seven hours, taking into account recording each game and then the changeover between events.

“By the end of it, you’ve got yourself a brilliant episode, hopefully! That’s the routine for most studio shows.”

However, it’s not always smooth running for Dan and his team during recording.

When in the US filming the American version of the hit TV show ‘The Wheel’ for NBC, the Wheel itself came to an abrupt stop and broke mid-recording.

“It was going round and round and then it just went ‘dunk’ and stopped. We had to stop for a couple of hours and fix it. When it happens to a 40ft wheel with celebrities sitting on it, it can be really difficult to fix,” Dan says.

Feedback from the public, good or bad, is something else to deal with when creating a television show as well.

“We’re in a fortunate position where we’ve got millions of people watching our shows, so you’re going to get positive and you’re going to get negative (feedback).”

“We always say that within our shows, if you can make someone laugh and you can make them cry in the same hour. Tears of happiness, tears of joy. You’ve cracked it.”

Feedback from the Family

Dan also uses his family as a market research tool to help him make decisions.

“Television is for the masses and the masses in this country are working-class people so their opinions really do matter because they are the audience.

“I always ask my uncles, my aunts, my kids, my brother, my sister, I always ask them about television and what they think.”

His uncle is an avid viewer of The Wheel and will message Dan with feedback (both good and bad!) every Saturday night about the episode that had just aired.

“He doesn’t care about anything else I do!”, Dan jokes.

“He is constantly messaging me, and he will literally break down the show and give me his point of view, even on the scores and the rules.

“It’s really important what your friends and family say, and they do help you make decisions there’s no doubt about it.”

Even Dan’s children were involved in shaping production, and were credited with helping create new Gladiators names: Nitro, Sabre, and Legend.

The Gladiator names all stem from ideas, something that Dan is a massive advocate for.

“My notes in my phone are full of ideas, just moments where I wake up and I put in an idea for a show or a name for a Gladiator or an item that I really love. You’ve got to always be thinking about new ideas.

Always having new ideas

“You can look at old content, brand new spins on things, think about what is it that everyone’s raving about, what is the new TikTok trend that everyone’s into?”

With this mindset, one would think Hungry Media is working on some new ideas at the moment.

“There’s a massive one we’re working on at the moment, it could be huge. We’re working on a new quiz show and working up an idea for a new entertainment show.

“We’re constantly juggling balls (ideas) in the air and currently some are bigger than others. We pitch ideas and sometimes they just fall short and don’t get made.”

When asked for some advice for those that have may have plenty of ideas and looking to enter the industry:

“Work hard. Be kind, be polite, be persistent and be the person that your parents would be proud of.”

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