Hamish Blake, a guaranteed audience for Lego Masters.

“There are very few people in Australian television who bring an audience with them,” says Nine exec Adrian Swift, “who, if you put them on a show, they will just bring an audience with them.

“Hamish Blake is one of them. Simple as that.”

Next week Hamish Blake, and Lego expert Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught return to Nine, and with them an expected bumper audience for a fourth season of Lego Masters.

Now filmed at FOX Studios in Sydney, the series boasts a bigger studio space.

“We just wanted to zjush it up a bit, more shiny floor, give it a little bit more showbiz, says Nine’s Head of Content, Production and Development.

“Hamish moved to Sydney, but we also just to change it.

“It’s a bigger set, better builders, a bigger brick pit, more fabulous things being built and it’s the first time we’ve ever gone outside the studio…. first time ever on location.

“Imagine Lego on drones racing around pylons in the middle of the SCG”

“Imagine Lego on drones racing around pylons in the middle of the SCG with all the footage up on the biggest SCG boards. We’re on wharves, we’re up cherry pickers -it’s fantastic.”

Fans can expect to see challenges from The Car of the Future to The Stuntman – which will see teams building a model that can fly through a hoop of fire.

One of the biggest challenges of all, The Bridge, is returning with a twist: the bridge they create will need to withstand a crazy shake test.

A brand-new brick power, the Titanium Brick of Triumph, grants one team immunity from the next elimination build. But there’s a catch: unlike previous series, contestants will never know when an elimination is.

“Funny people with beards doing things”

The show has been a break-out hit for Nine, given a ‘shiny floor’ makeover in Australia from its British original.

“The English one was a people in a drafty shed somewhere in Surrey….. funny people with beards doing things. I was at the London screenings the week before last, and one of the biggest shows I was pitched back by Endemol Shine by Cathy Payne was the Australian version of Lego Masters, which is the one that’s taken off around the world.

“I don’t think we as producers ever knew that it would come together quite as successfully as those two guys and that format, did.

“When you’ve got a show where your Lego expert cries every time he’s got to get rid of someone, and tells someone how brilliant they are, you know you’re onto something. ‘Brickman’, Ryan, is just the most clever, generous, creative guy. He’s so invested in that show. You can’t create that.”

The teams this year include the first ever father and son duo, workmates, brothers, best mates, and a married gay couple, all competing for their chance to win the $100,000 prize money.

And while it scores in the ratings, the show also ticks a rare ‘co-viewing’ box for Nine, with families watching together.

Yet Swift admits that also creates its own challenges.

“It’s really difficult to find things to program around Lego”

“It’s hard because it generates such a specific and very unique audience. But what do you put after it? It’s really difficult to find things to program around Lego, because it’s families and kids. With The Voice it was always easy. We could add an Elton John documentary or a Kylie Minogue doc,” he explains.

“With Lego, it’s harder because it’s such a specific thing. But it’s really important to our schedule.

“Hamish is better I think that he’s ever been. I just think he’s so into the format at the moment. It’s now so effortless for him that it just feels really good when you’re watching. It’s great. I’m so pleased with it.”

Lego Masters returns 7:30pm Monday on Nine.