UKTV orders multiple seasons of Bangers & Cash
August 17, 2023
UKTV has recommissioned its classic car show, Bangers & Cash for the Yesterday channel and free streaming service UKTV Play, for 46 new episodes across four new seasons following on from the two seasons yet to air. The commission represents the highest number of episodes ever ordered by the network for one programme at one time. Alongside this, 12 more episodes across two new seasons of the spin-off, Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics, have been ordered, which will bring the total to six seasons.
Bangers & Cash follows the work of the Mathewsons Classic Car Auction, a three-generation dynasty of classic car auctioneers led by head of the family, Derek Mathewson, alongside his two sons, Paul and Dave. Mathewsons, and their long-suffering team, discover and auction over 4,000 classic and rare cars a year, as well as all kinds of rare commercial vehicles, vintage motorbikes and auto memorabilia.
Bangers & Cash continues to be the most popular programme on Yesterday, with season seven averaging 744k individuals per episode, and Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics series two averaging an audience of 647k individuals per episode, with the finale rising to 760k individuals. Across both programmes, the two shows have reached 19 million individuals combined on Yesterday and Dave to date, and in 2022, Bangers & Cash was the top performing UKTV Original on the free streaming service UKTV Play.
Bangers & Cash and Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics are commissioned for UKTV by commissioning editor, Kirsty Hanson and ordered by Yesterday channel director, Gerald Casey and deputy director of commissioning, Hilary Rosen. Produced by Air TV, executive producers are Andy Joynson and Morland Sanders.
Hanson said: “I’m so pleased we can demonstrate our commitment to Air TV, the Mathewsons, and our viewers with such a large order of episodes for Bangers & Cash. It’s such a pleasure to work on the Bangers & Cash franchise and I’m personally very excited to continue our collaboration across the next few years.”
Joynson said, “I’m delighted that UKTV have committed to creating so many new series of Bangers & Cash and Restoring Classics. There really is a limitless supply of astonishing cars out there for the Mathewsons to feature, restore and auction. It’s a privilege to be able to spend more time making a programme we love making.”
Casey said: “Bangers is at the heart of the Yesterday schedule and it’s a phenomenal achievement to be able to recommission so many new series at once. We’re proud that we can continue to make a programme that resonates with such a large audience and continues to excite both Yesterday and UKTV Play viewers.”
Mathewson added: “More Bangers & Cash? Well, it’s amazing, isn’t it? Who would have thought it? I thought we’d have done a series. Two would have been a bonus, like. But then again, now I realise the popularity of the show. The amount of people who visit us and say they’ve come specifically to see the place from TV, and they’re so enthusiastic about it. And to this day I still get people say that the programme got them through lockdown – that means an awful lot to us.”