Imagine walking into a room, being told to complete a challenge, and discovering that nobody intends to tell you what the challenge is. Now imagine sending Bob Mortimer (‘Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing’) and Richard Ayoade (‘The IT Crowd’) in to deal with it. Netflix has commissioned ‘Hot or Cold’, a six-part comedy game show built around that rather promising idea.
The series takes pairs of comedians and other famous faces through a mysterious institution filled with rooms. Each room contains a task they must complete as quickly as possible, but the contestants are given no explanation of what they are trying to achieve or how to achieve it. Their only feedback comes from the room itself, which glows red when they are getting warmer and blue when they are getting colder.
So the childhood game of calling out “hotter” and “colder” has become an obstacle course for adults, with the added complication that the person giving clues appears to be the building. Some challenges will appear simple; others promise to be thoroughly absurd. The pairs race through room after room, trying to make sense of the lights before their rivals do.
Mortimer and Ayoade lead the line-up, and having both in the same show sounds like an excellent way to make being mildly confused entertaining. Mortimer is certainly on board: “Spending time with Richard Ayoade is one of my all-time favourite things to do. Closely followed by playing Hot or Cold, so this has worked out brilliantly.”
Ayoade’s response is exactly as measured as you might expect. “Although I prefer mild temperatures, it’s been instructive to participate in something as binary as this.” Between that and Mortimer’s ability to make almost any conversation take an unexpected turn, we suspect the discussions about what the rooms want could be as much fun as watching the challenges play out.
Netflix has not named the rest of the comedians and famous faces taking part or explained how the pairings will work. The premise does at least give everyone the same problem: there are no instructions for the individual rooms to memorise, because first you have to work out what game you are playing. We can already picture ourselves confidently shouting an answer at the screen, then realising we have misunderstood the room too.
Zeppotron, part of Banijay UK, is producing ‘Hot or Cold’, with Chris Cohen, Richard Cohen and Peter Holmes serving as executive producers. Netflix has the show lined up for 2027. Until we see the rooms in action, we will have to settle for guessing whether this idea is brilliantly simple or brilliantly bonkers. With Mortimer and Ayoade involved, either could work.
‘Hot or Cold’ premieres on Netflix in 2027. An exact date has yet to be announced.
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