Heap History

Tom Hanks is unlikely inspiration for an engineering game show; he's best known for storming the beaches of Normandy and eating a box of chocolates. However, it was his orbiting antics in Apollo 13 that sparked an idea in the head of TV producer Cathy Rogers – 'What about a show in which members of the public try to build working machines from junk?' Lo and behold Scrapheap Challenge was born! The rest, as they say… is a cliché.

The series has evolved over the years: the pilot was a different beast to the show that airs now. The title was simply 'Scrapheap' and the host was Sally Gray. Two teams had to build a hovercraft from a pile of old junk. They had from sunrise to sunset to complete their machine and they raced it afterwards. Rather surprisingly, one of them worked and a series was commissioned.

Robert Llewellyn of Red Dwarf fame was drafted in to host the resulting series. He challenged the yellow and orange teams to bodge together something less rubbish than a pile of rubbish. He was genuinely impressed when they conjured up an array of clever contraptions.

Quite a few changes were made for series two. A new set was built and the seven episodes became a knockout competition, with teams of friends guided by an onscreen expert. It was also decided that Robert was lonely and needed a little pal to talk to. After an epic auditioning process, producer Cathy Rogers was cajoled in front of the camera to co-host with Robert.

Cathy Rogers' other work commitments meant a new co-host had to be found for series five. Robert's new little pal was Lisa 'it's quite a common name actually' Rogers. The pair are now presenting their sixth series of Scrapheap together, as well as the successful spin-offs Scrappy Races and the Scrapheap Roadshow.

Over the years, the show has gone from strength to strength and even made the leap across the Atlantic, becoming Junkyard Wars for the US audience.

Previous Scrapheap Challenge series champions

Look back at the past Scrapheap websites >>

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