As we excitedly await the launch of this years Gadget Show Live event at Birmingham’s NEC, from 11 to 15 April, thoughts turn to the next series of the popular Channel 5 technology show and there are changes afoot.

After sixteen series Channel 5 have confirmed that the show, when it returns in April 2012, will have a new format and, it would seem, considerably less presenters, as just Jason Bradbury and Pollyanna Woodward are left to embark on global adventures in consumer gadget testing as The Gadget Show: World Tour. It is still a little unclear as to whether Suzi Perry, Ortis Deley, or Jon Bentley will be involved in any way in the new series but at least keen viewers will be able to see the team together for the live shows during this years live event. With the Super Theatre becoming a big draw for the live event, this year the arena seats 6000 per show, it is going to be interesting to see how the hour-long adrenaline fuelled event could survive with just two presenters.

It will also be interesting to see how The Gadget Show will perform with its new format, particularly as it now has Sky One’s young bunch of Gadget Geeks to contend with. Gadget Geeks is a new two-tier show, with a mix of consumer gadget testing and creative inventiveness to solve real world problems using technology. Gadget Geeks looks promising although it is still clearly finding it’s feet and sometimes feels just a little too similar in style to The Gadget Show which is a shame as it really needs to find it’s own identity.

One day the BBC might even bring back the slightly more serious Tomorrow’s World as there is still a great deal of exciting consumer tech out there that often gets overlooked such as mobile health monitoring and smart meter technology. In the mean time there is the popular science show Bang Goes the Theory, with series six airing from tonight in the UK, and expectations for this series are again high as the show aims to make complex technology more accessible.