Scrapheap Challenge events. Examples of challenges included making a jet car, a bridging machine, a car-crusher, and a machine to fling a British Leyland Mini as far as possible. Assistant producer Eve Kay had the idea for the show after watching a scene in the movie "Apollo 13", where NASA engineers had only a short period of time to construct a carbon dioxide filter out of parts available on the space capsule. The show also draws its inspiration from the 1980s TV series "The Great Egg Race". The UK show was originally presented by Robert Llewellyn, joined in series 2-4 by producer
The Sitcom Trials Canal Cafe Theatre, Finborough Theatre, Soho Theatre, Ealing Studios, The Green Room Club, and the Hen and Chickens Theatre. "The Sitcom Trials" debuted at the Gilded Balloon venue at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2001, with a show starring Miranda Hart, returning in 2002 & 2004. The first TV series was a Carlton production for ITV/HTV, broadcast live from Bristol over eight weeks in 2003. The first Hollywood "Sitcom Trials" took place in 2005. In 2008 the Sitcom Trials won the Fringe Report Award for Best Encourager of New Talent. In 2013 and 2016 The Sitcom Trials returned to the Gilded