Dara Ó Briain’s Go 8 Bit: how comedy brought video games back to TV

Two comedians and a bit of star power have brought the gaming show back to British television, hoping to draw in gamers and non-gamers alike

Video games don't work on television. That's the nugget of unquestionable wisdom that's been passed down from producer to producer over the last 30 years as gaming noisily became one of the world's most popular pastimes.

Sure, there have been exceptions, people will grudgingly concede. In the early 90s, Games Master bought all the chaotic fun and competition of teenage Mega Drive fanaticism to children's TV for several glorious series. The late 90s and early 2000s saw Bits and Thumb Bandits, both starring one-time Guardian games columnist Aleks Krotoski.