And lo in the year 2016 it came to pass that the BBC would celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ by forcing armoured robots to fight to the death on national TV.

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Yes, Robot Wars is coming back for two Christmas specials, where usual hosts Dara O Briain and Angela Scanlon will be joined by a group of famous faces (yet to be revealed).

In each hour-long episode, four celebrity teams will design their dream robot with the help of an experienced roboteer from the series.

And once in the arena, the celebrities and their team members will battle each other (well, their robots will), while avoiding the lethal arena hazards and those terrifying House Robots. That's right, Sir Killalot, Matilda, Shunt and Dead Metal will be returning, probably with a real lack of Christmas cheer.

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We can hear the cheers of the crowd now: “Ho! Ho! Ho! Pit! Pit! Pit!”

Authors

Thomas LingDigital editor, BBC Science Focus

Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.

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