Page 7 - The Cube News Today

Up quite a lot. - we felt like it needed - new elements to come back, and it wasntjust £1 million. that was a discussion we had i with itv about creating a stunt week, but we felt like _ a two—player game would make it far more interesting. we introduced a different lifeline as a result of thatj because we felt like its great| to have something evergreen. its a format like — - game shows are so hard to get right. if youve got one that actually works, dont change that. - well, except, at som...

We could have gone in and said, "lets always play that trick, "lets always give them pink or green or purple "when they dont want it." but, actually, we didnt. actually i think thats the key, hopefully, to it sustaining an audience. layla, you mentioned the cube coming back later this year and, as you say, it had the £1 million specials aired last year. again, for those who havent seen it, what does phillip schofield guide the viewer through on a typical episode of the cube? well, the cube, its...

Years, and its been off air. i but we did change it up quite a lot. - we felt like it needed - new elements to come back, and it wasntjust £1 million. that was a discussion we had i with itv about creating a stunt week, but we felt like _ a two—player game would make it far more interesting. we introduced a different lifeline as a result of thatj because we felt like its great| to have something evergreen. its a format like — - game shows are so hard to get right. if youve got one that actu...

Was also a covid thing here. there were certain shows, i and i think the cube was part of this too, we couldnt do audiences, so actually its| great to do a show that you know. - and there isnt an audience, l but its fine because you know the show. if you put a new show that l probably would work better with an audience, that you try out for the very first time - and the audience isnt - there to react, that might affect it doing well, i so you dont want to take that risk. i think that happened i ...

But we could have been quite cynical. we could have gone in and said, "lets always play that trick, "lets always give them pink or green or purple "when they dont want it." but, actually, we didnt. actually i think thats the key, hopefully, to it sustaining an audience. layla, you mentioned the cube coming back later this year and, as you say, it had the £1 million specials aired last year. again, for those who havent seen it, what does phillip schofield guide the viewer through on a typical ep...

A covid thing here. there were certain shows, i and i think the cube was part of this, we couldnt do audiences, its great l to do — a show that you know. but its fine because you know the show. | if you put a new show that i probably would be or better with an audience, that might affect it doing well. - you dont want l to take that risk. i think that happened i quite a lot during covid, and i dont meanjust- with game shows, but a sense of familiarity, of people - going back to what they know....

Layla smith is head of objective media group, part of the tv giant all3media and, before that, she was controller of entertainment at itv. i mean, layla, youre looking after a huge selection of programmes at objective. what are your big hits at the moment? well, like what were talking| about, one of the big things, was bringing the cube| back after many years. so, it was off air for many. years and we bought it back last year in october. it was a £1 million - cube with new gameplay. its back ag...

Been quite cynical. we could have gone in and said, "lets always play that trick, "lets always give them pink or green or purple "when they dont want it." but, actually, we didnt. actually i think thats the key, hopefully, to it sustaining an audience. layla, you mentioned the cube coming back later this year and, as you say, it had the £1 million specials aired last year. again, for those who havent seen it, what does phillip schofield guide the viewer through on a typical episode of the cube?...

We felt like it needed - new elements to come back, and it wasntjust £1 million. that was a discussion we had i with itv about creating a stunt week, but we felt like _ a two—player game would make it far more interesting. we introduced a different lifeline as a result of thatj because we felt like its great| to have something evergreen. its a format like — - game shows are so hard to get right. if youve got one that actually works, dont change that. - well, except, at some point, somebody ...

To look at it and think, | "how can we improve? "does it need _ something changing up? "do we change elements of it? "do we freshen up the format?" when its a game show... it might be different for ruby and clive with celebrity- interview, thats about really brilliant interview, isnt it? l but i dont think that - happened with the cube. so, actually, its not so much that the format is broken, . but actually, viewers do demand a freshness to their content. - they dont just want the same thing, ad...