[Gary Baldy]

It's an interesting question that I've been pondering recently- what constitutes a revival? I recently watched the last series of BGT and I was thinking it was better before its 2021 hiatus.

And it got me thinking BGT was on in 2020, then didn't return until 2022. It was still close enough time-wise, personnel wise, format wise etc to the previous series to simply be a new series rather than a revival.

Saturday Night Takeaway was on in 2018, then didn't return until 2020. Again, this was still close enough time-wise to be considered a new series rather than a second revival. Even though there was a personnel change, with adding Fleur East, Andi Peters, and Jordan North instead of Scarlett Moffatt.

But then Millionaire and DOI were both on in 2014, and returned in 2018. Is it considered a revival after 4 years in a way that it isn't after 2? DOI changed judges bar Jason, but retained Phil and Holly, and Millionaire switched hosts to Clarkson but reverted to the original format. Maybe the personnel changes rather than the gap was what made it be considered a revival? In Millionaire's case, maybe you could say the return to the 15Q format with no time limit made it a revival, but in that case, why was the 12Q clock format not considered a revival?

If significant personnel change makes something a revival, then why wasn't Bake Off 2017 considered a revival, despite changing channel, hosts, and judge? 

Is there a certain amount of time something has to be away for to be a revival? What about the 2022 series of Ninja Warrior, it was away for 3 years, changed its format to a race format but was still considered just a new series- was that due to the original personnel returning? But then DOI had its original hosts return after 4 years (Christine was really just maternity cover really since Holly was pregnant/not long given birth for 2 of the 3 series Christine hosted) and was considered a revival, when Ninja Warrior wasn't after 3? Is there much difference between 3 and 4 years?

Then there's Happy Valley, which was simply a new series even after not being on for 7 years... Deal or No Deal which is coming back this year has also been off the air for 7 years but it's a revival rather than simply a new series- it doesn't make sense to me.

I don't know if my wording makes sense but I'm just wondering what differentiates a new series after a few years away, and a revival after a few years away, especially since sometimes those revivals are on the same channel with the same host.