Takeshi’s Castle is being rebooted by Prime Video

Virgin Radio

31 Mar 2022, 09:23

Credit: Tokyo Broadcasting System

Strap on your elbow pads and safety helmet, because Takeshi’s Castle is coming back!

The iconic unscripted Japanese game show, which originally aired in the late 1980s, involved contestants taking on complicated physical challenges in order to reach Japanese comedian Takeshi Kitano, who played a count that owned the titular castle. It was a massive cult hit, screening in over 150 countries around the world.

Now, the show is set for a reboot on Amazon Prime Video as Takeshi’s Castle Project. As reported by Deadline: “The all-new Japanese original will premiere in 2023 for Prime members in more than 240 markets.”

The OG Takeshi's Castle first landed on British televisions when footage from it featured on Chris Tarrant’s show, Tarrant on TV, in the 80s. A condensed version of Takeshi’s Castle was then shown in the early 2000s on the Challenge TV channel, and proved to be a big hit.

The version that appeared on Challenge was narrated by Craig Charles, and the show was known for its 'Ridiculous Replays' which highlighted the most entertaining - and usually failed - attempts.

In 2010, fans of the show - who call themselves Keshi Heads - launched a campaign to bring it back to mark its 10th anniversary on Challenge. The resulting Takeshi's Castle Rebooted featured never-before-seen games which had previously been cut from other episodes, and five Japanese episodes new to the UK. Dick and Dom were brought in to do the voiceover.

From 2017 to 2019, a revival of the show was shown on Comedy Central, using footage from the Indonesian and Thai versions of the series. This was narrated by Jonathon Ross.

As well as the announcement of the return of Takeshi’s Castle, Prime Video has also revealed a host of new Japanese shows, including an adaptation of popular anthology series Modern Love, which originally starred Anne Hathaway, Dev Patel, Catherine Keener, Tina Fey and Andy Garcia.

Also set for release is the romantic horror adventure-comedy series My Undead Yokai Girlfriend, season two of The Masked Singer, The Bachelorette Japan, and Bake Off Japan.