Gamezville
| Gamezville | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Entertainment |
| Written by | Matt Cuttle Matt Percival Andrew Forgham Simon Alveranga Mo Ramzan Guy Buckland |
| Directed by | Jezz Wright Matt Cuttle Matt Percival Andrew Forgham |
| Presented by | Jamie Atiko Darren Malcolm |
| Starring | Matt Cuttle Mo Ramzan Sarah Rees Guy Buckland Simon Alveranga Andrew Forgham |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 192 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Sally-Ann Howard Jezz Wright Viv Ellis |
| Producer(s) | Guy Buckland Matt Percival Matt Cuttle Andrew Forgham Debbie Hunt Mo Ramzan Simon Alveranga |
| Running time | 60 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Production company(s) | Shine |
| Release | |
| Original network | Sky One |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Original release | 2003 – 2004 |
Gamezville was an entertainment video games show that was broadcast on Sky One and ran for two series from 2003 to 2004. It was presented by models Jamie Atiko and Darren Malcolm. The non-studio segments of the show were also shown in the United States between 2003 and 2004 on the digital cable channel Nickelodeon GAS as part of a Saturday night gaming block, under the show title Play 2Z. In this version, some segments were redubbed with an American voice.
The first series was commissioned by Sky One, in the summer of 2003. The channel had been looking for a new videogaming series since the disappointment that was Blam!, an advertorial show for Gameplay.com, that aired in 2000. The production company that was selected was Shine Limited, which was set up by former BSkyB executive Elisabeth Murdoch after she quit as broadcaster.
As part of the unofficial terms of her severance package, Shine was promised several hundred hours of commissioned programming. Jezz Wright, who was then editor of the Lifestyle & Features department at Shine was tasked with coming up with a format that would produce multiple hours of output per week. The budget was challenging so it had to be a simple format whereby, to keep costs down, two or three could be recorded in a day. This would ensure the programme maintained a considerable profit margin from the production budget.
It is for this reason that Gamezville ended up being an hour-long show, five times a week. Jezz Wright, who came from a TV news background conceived Gamezville as a zoo type format whereby the production team would play as much a part on camera as they would off it. A 'newsroom' environment would be created that would serve as the off air production office and the on screen newsroom. Every day, the show would have a mix of reviews, news, features and characters, all encased in a heavily graffitied studio presented by real gamers in a rough 'n ready sense rather than the traditionally contrived 'kids TV' type presenting.
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Wikipedia