30.10.2003 - Knightmare on Challenge

The main evening slot for Series 5 on Challenge moved from 6pm to 7pm since 10th November. This is quite good knews since the later prime time slot means more people are available to watch it.

Challenge have now just completed a full run of Series 5, and from Monday 1st December they will be showing the series again every weeknight at 7pm (repeated 1.15/1.30am). Check the Challenge website for exact times for the daily repeats.

Knightmare rated in the top ten viewing figures for Challenge (week ending 26.10.03 - the first week of Series 5):

1 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Thu 1829)  0.15  
2 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Tue 1829)  0.13  
3 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Thu 1759)  0.12  
4 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Sun 1800)  0.12  
5 FORT BOYARD (Mon 1700)  0.11  
6 KNIGHTMARE (Wed 1759)  0.10  
7 FORT BOYARD (Fri 1700)  0.10  
8 FORT BOYARD (Sat 1700)  0.10  
9 FORT BOYARD (Wed 1700)  0.09  
10 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Sun 1831)

Source: BARB

30.11.2003 - Anglia Gold

Anglia Television's 'Anglia Gold' website was launched three years ago, and features a section on Knightmare. Unfortunately I have been informed that the site is due to close very soon, possibly due to a restructuring at ITV. At the time of writing, it is still online and you can have a last look at http://www.angliatv.com/angliagold.

01.09.2003 - 'Release Knightmare on DVD' Petition

The 'Release Knightmare on DVD' Petition closed in August with over 1000 signatures collected in less than two months. This response to the petition has been great, and thanks to all those who have signed it. It will shortly be printed and sent to Granada Enterprises. We will let you know of any response.

01.09.2003 - Visitor Poll

The first knightmare.com visitor poll was set up in the last update to find out more about the profile of visitors to this website. Over the last seven weeks, nearly 1500 people have selected their age group, and the final results are as follows:

Thanks to everyone who voted - as with the petition we had a great response. Nearly a third of visitors are aged 18-20, and this is followed by 21-23 year olds who make up over a quarter of visitors. The results show that 15-26 year olds make up 86% of the visitors to this site. This would be expected as this is the age group that is most likely to remember the original broadcasts of Knightmare. It is also interesting to see we have a few visitors ages under 12 who may not have seen the original broadcasts but could be watching the repeats on Challenge. 

21.08.2003 - Series 5 on Challenge

Challenge have announced that they have purchased the rights to broadcast Series 5 of Knightmare and will be showing it from 20th October 2003: Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays @ 10am (repeated 6pm and midnight).

10.07.2003 - Televirtual wins lottery funding for Knightmare VR

Televirtual has secured a £40k National Lottery funded media development grant to help relaunch it's classic children's TV adventure game, Knightmare.

The grant investment by SCREEN EAST means that the Norwich based company will be able to build a Virtual Reality demonstrator or real time pilot for the new version of the cult dungeon exploration show. A dramatised adventure game in which real children explored a compelling fantasy world, Knightmare regularly attracted audiences in excess of 5 million, and spawned foreign language versions across Europe. It was the most successful children's programme ever produced in the East of England. The show pioneered what are now called 'Virtual Studio' techniques, mixing real characters with computer hosted scenes via a Cromakey or blue-screen production.

For the new show, it's expected that the production will make the full transition into Virtual Reality, with actors and players appearing as 3D avatars or virtual humans. Knightmare creator and Televirtual founder Tim Child explained: 'whilst the new show will be retro, and hopefully recapture the atmosphere of it's predecessor, these proposed virtual production techniques are so radical that people will not really understand what to expect until they see the show. That's why we need to build the demonstrator to show potential broadcasters and distributors what we're planning. The investment by SCREEN EAST has now made this possible.'

Televirtual: http://www.televirtual.com
Screen East: http://www.screeneast.co.uk

10.07.2003 - Knightmare on Challenge

As mentioned previously, Challenge have been broadcasting Series 4 from 2nd June. This was followed by another repeat of Series 3 and then Series 4 again. The all important ratings for Series 4 has proved inconclusive and therefore Challenge will not be acquiring further series for the time being, but this has not been ruled out for the future.

Full ratings information are not available to the public, however the top ten programmes on Challenge for the week ending 22/06/2003 showed that Knightmare had 80,000 viewers for the repeat of the first episode of Series 3 on Wednesday 18th June 2003. Knightmare has not appeared in the top ten for any other weeks so far.

1 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Wed 1833) 0.14
2 FAMILY FORTUNES (Mon 2132) 0.12
3 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Sun 1900) 0.12
4 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Mon 1830) 0.11
5 FORT BOYARD (Wed 1700) 0.09
6 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Thu 1832) 0.09
7 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Sun 2000) 0.09
8 TAKESHI'S CASTLE (Tue 1830) 0.09
9 KNIGHTMARE (Wed 1800) 0.08
10 FAMILY FORTUNES (Wed 2133) 0.08

Source: BARB

17.06.2003 - 'Release Knightmare on DVD' Petition

We have heard that Granada Media are now interested in releasing the original episodes of Knightmare on DVD, hopefully with extra content such as the 1992 US pilot episode - 'Lords of the Game'. However, they are not sure how large the market is.

To help convince them to go ahead with a release, we have created a new petition aimed at Granada Enterprises. If you would like to see Knightmare on DVD, please spend just a minute to sign the petition:  http://www.petitionpetition.com/cgi/petition.cgi?id=5838

19.05.2003 - Challenge Series 4 Schedule

The schedule for Series 4 on Challenge has just been announced, and Knightmare will be on everyday!

Starting 2nd June 2003
Weekdays @ 6pm, repeated 1.10am
Weekends @ 10am, repeated 10.05pm

Series 4 will be followed by Series 3 again. Please remember that schedules are subject to change and you should double check the Challenge? website for the latest details.

19.05.2003 - Jason Karl

Some knews from a winning dungeoneer of Series 2 - Jason Karl (formerly known as Julian Smith). Since the appearance on Knightmare, Jason became an actor (recently presenting Most Haunted on LivingTV) and is now the director of Talisman TV.

Talisman TV have a new website which you can have a look at - http://www.talismantv.co.uk and Jason has his own website at http://www.jasondexterkarl.com. Jason has also provided us with a photo of himself with the FrightKnight trophy.

17.04.2003 - Challenge to show Series 4!

Good knews! Challenge have today announced that they will be showing Series 4 of Knightmare from June. Here is the official announcement from Challenge:

Dear Knightmare fans,

I am delighted to announce Challenge? are planning to show series 4 of Knightmare in June!

Starting June 2nd, due to overwhelming viewer demand, we will be running Knightmare daily...Weekdays at 6:30pm (following Takeshis Castle at 6pm!) and weekends at 10am.

While we will most likely be promoting Knightmare on-air this time around (as it's in peak viewing time) this means you have about 6 weeks to tell all your friends to tune into Challenge? in June!

Just to pre-empt a few enquiries, this isn't a change in policy at all. We have always stuck rigid to our policy that if a show gets good ratings, we can buy more of them (within reason!) Knightmare's ratings were very impressive on its second run and, of course, we couldn't ignore the dozens of posts on this very forum. Naturally, we thank you all for your feedback.

Hey, if the ratings continue to impress us with series 4, then who knows what might happen.

03.03.2003 - Mark Knight

Mark Knight (Lord Fear et al.) appeared on stage again in Bill Hollenbach's Severed Heads on 3rd March 2003. Thanks to Kieran for forwarding these details:

What's happening?
A special series of concert staged readings of plays by members of the Philadelphia Dramatists Center will be presented at the New Freedom Theatre on five consecutive Monday evenings through mid-March. The full series of Monday-night presentations includes Annette E. Sanders All Cracked Up, director Zuhairah McGill, February 24; Bill Hollenbach's Severed Heads, director James E. Schlatter, March 3; Bill Rolleri and Anna Antaramians The Armenian Question, dramaturg and director Ed Shockley, with Lee Pucklis as producer, March 10; and An Evening of One-Acts authored by Jamie J. Brunson, Ann Davidon and T.J. Stokes, March 17.

What play is Mark in?
Severed Heads brings two former campus radical activists together, now in their maturity at opposite ends of the scale of success, in an eerie confrontation complicated by dire deeds of the past and the ghost of a long-dead playwright. Its funny, its frightening, its crazy and yet it makes sense.

What part is Mark playing?
He's playing George Buechner, a dead playwright. Sometimes mischievous, sometimes chillingly amoral, the ghost of Buechner is given new physical and intellectual life by Mr. Knight, who says of himself "I think I've got a lot in common with Buechner; someone who saw a play I wrote years ago said they thought I wrote like a dead playwright...now I think about it I'm not sure how he meant that".

Where & When
New Freedom Theater
1346 N. Broad Street
(Broad and Master Streets)
Philadelphia, PA 19121
Monday, March 3rd 2003, Curtain up: 7:30 PM

03.03.2003 - New software helps to rekindle Knightmare

There was an article about Knightmare in the 21st February edition of Broadcast magazine.

The maker of 1980s kids adventure show Knightmare is developing new software to bring the show back as a live interactive virtual reality dungeon adventure show, writes SAM ESPENSEN.

The full article can be seen on the knew Knightmare VR page on this site.

03.03.2003 - Knightmare to end on Challenge?... for now

Challenge? have announced that they will not be showing any more series after that due to a change in direction of programming, but have not ruled out considering it again in the future. The statement as posted on the Challenge message board is as follows:

Dear Knightmare fans,

Firstly, thank you for all your comments. Despite not being physically able to respond to every post in this forum (we simply don't have the resources) please be assured that we check your views and comments at least twice a day and appreciate feedback, whether positive or negative.

While we have never questioned the popularity of Knightmare, especially within the internet community, please understand that there are very good reasons why we have chosen not to buy any further series for the time being. Most of these reasons are part of a creative strategy that we simply cannot discuss in such a public forum, due to Challenge? ultimately being a commercial TV channel in a highly competitive market.

That said, at the most basic level, it all comes down to ratings. While Knightmare's viewing figures have been respectable, the show simply hasn't performed as well as other shows have in our schedule and the numbers simply do not financially justify purchase of a further series at this present time.

I would like to repeat that we definitely wouldn't rule out purchasing further series of Knightmare in the future.

03.03.2003 - Remaining Challenge? Schedule

Series 3 episodes 4-13 will be repeated again during March. Episodes 1-3 will not be repeated again as they have already been shown twice, and episodes 14-16 will be shown in May 2003 during another Cult Selection slot.

Episode 4: Saturday 1st
Episode 5: Sunday 2nd
Episode 6: Saturday 8th
Episode 7: Sunday 9th
Episode 8: Saturday 15th
Episode 9: Sunday 16th
Episode 10: Saturday 22nd
Episode 11: Sunday 23rd
Episode 12: Saturday 29th
Episode 13: Sunday 30th

Please check the listings on the Challenge? website for exact broadcast times. Each episode is scheduled for repeat later in each day or overnight. 
 

03.03.2003 - Hugo Myatt

Hugo Myatt has recently recorded an appearance in a Doctor Who audio play, entitled Omega. It will be released in August. More details.

Thanks to Ian Farrington for the knews.
 

03.03.2003 - More Guestbook signings

Edmund Dehn (who played Gumboil and others in Series 1 and 2) has signed the guestbook:

Fascinating! Good to hear that people are still interested & that things are going on. I have fond memories. Does anyone remember the Giant?!

Also Dicken - the winning dungeonner from Series 4:

I was a winner on the show and watching on Challenge Tv flooded back the memories of me blowing the horn and running into the goblins.

Please note it is not always possible to verify the authenticity of guestbook postings.

03.03.2003 - Warwick Radio

Ben Cottam from Warwick Radio (Warwick University's radio station) has been in contact to say he co-presents a show every Friday 5-7pm, and it is their 'unofficial policy to mention Knightmare and Hugo Myatt every episode'! You can listen online at http://www.radio.warwick.ac.uk.
 

27.01.2003 - Knightmare continues on Challenge?

Knightmare Series 3 broadcasts will be continuing throughout February in the same scheduled slots - Saturdays and Sundays at 10am, repeated 5pm. The schedule is therefore as follows:

Episode 9: Saturday 1st: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 10: Sunday 2nd: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 11: Saturday 8th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 12: Sunday 9th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 13: Saturday 15th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 14: Sunday 16th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 15: Saturday 22nd: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 16: Sunday 23rd: 10am, repeated 5pm
 

27.01.2003 - More Guestbook signings

Paul Valentine, who played the key character of Motley (and a few others) signed the guestbook back in July last year:

Hi Helmet heads!
This is Paul Valentine here, the guy that used to play Motley and Sylvester aka Sly Hands. (Why did the change the name it wasn't my choice I can tell you - probably aiming for the 'younger audience') I also played Fidjit in my 'motley sabbatical' during series 7 and the boatman in an earlier season. Anyway keep up the good work! Much love to the fans. Paul.

Also more recently, Steve Ryde, the continuity announcer of CITV from 1993 - 1998 signed the guestbook in November 2002:

I was the 'voice' of CITV (93-98) and was delighted to stumble across this site. Knightmare was one of my favourite shows during my time doing the live voices, and it brought back a lot of happy memories watching the trailer clips. I'm now a Producer for CBBC, making a live show called 'Dick & Dom In Da Bungalow' for the CBBC channel. Catch it Saturday/Sunday mornings 9.00 - 12.00. That too can be a knightmare at times!!
 

04.01.2003 - Knightmare wins Challenge Cult Christmas Selection poll

On 1st January, the results of the Challenge Christmas Cult Selection poll was announced, and Knightmare came 1st place. The poll was recently held on the Challenge website, and viewers voted for their favourite game show from a selection. The results were:

1. Knightmare
2. The Adventure Game
3. Crackerjack
4. Going for Gold
5. Sale of the Century
6. The Golden Shot
7. 3-2-1
8. Bullseye
9. The Generation Game
10. Name That Tune

Challenge announcer: "So, here we are viewers: the winner of the Challenge Cult Selection. It's getting on for midnight, and you're all about to have a Knightmare".

Challenge's short Knightmare documentary featuring Tim Child and Hugo Myatt was shown again, duly followed by episode 3 of series 3. See Knightmare on Challenge? for more details. Thanks to Grimaldine Grimwold on the forum for providing the above details.

Meanwhile, further repeats of series 3 have commenced on Challenge, and continue every Saturday and Sunday at 10am, repeated 5pm. The full schedule is below. It is very likely that the rest of the series will be scheduled, but we will let you know when details are available.

04.01.2003 - CITV Birthday Bash

On 3rd January, CITV/Children's ITV celebrated 20 years on air with a special programme looking at past presenters, characters and shows. A short clip (around 30 seconds) of Knightmare was shown as part of the 80s section, with some commentary from the current CITV presenters. See Knightmare on CITV's Birthday Bash for more details.

22.12.2002 - Knew Knightmare VR development page

Following the recent announcement that Knightmare is to be re-formatted as a live show, Televirtual have launched a new Knightmare development page. This will contain all test dungeoneer avatar graphics, logos, demo sequences etc. Check there regularly for updates.

Also, the first test encounter scene graphic for the new Knightmare show is now available. Please note that it is a development picture and no firm decisions have been taken on the dungeoneer's appearance.

Don't confuse the re-format of Knightmare with TimeGate, which remains a separate development as a far more advanced show for a youth/adult audience. A full promotional trailer for TimeGate is now available. The filename is timegate.wmv and it is 8.8MB in size. If you have a slow connection you are advised to right-click on the file and select 'Save Target As' (or similar) to download and save to your hard disk first.

22.12.2002 - Knightmare on CITV? [Update]

On 3rd January 2003 from 9.25am-10.45am, ITV will be showing the 'CITV Birthday Bash'. This is a celebration of 20 years of CITV.

There have been rumours that they may be showing an episode of Knightmare during this slot. It is still unknown what will be shown, however it is very likely that Knightmare will be featured in some way, so keep an eye on the show.

Announcing the Birthday Bash, the CITV newsletter [26th November] said:

We will have lots of old CiTV presenters like Matthew Kelly, Grotbags, Teabag, Roland Rat - ones that your Mum and Dad may even remember!

CiTV has changed loads in the last 20 years and you'll be able to see how it used to look! We'll also be giving away 20 great competition prizes and the chance to watch classic shows like Knightmare, The Moomins and Dangermouse!

30.11.2002 - Knightmare on Challenge schedule

Confirmed details of the schedule for the Series 3 showing on Challenge:

December 2002
Episode 1: Monday 23rd
Episode 2: Thursday 26th

The above episodes will be shown as part of Challenge's 'Christmas Cult Selection' slot, sometime between 2pm-5pm and repeated 9pm-Midnight (check the Electronic Programme Guide nearer the date for exact times). A short Knightmare documentary will be played immediately before each episode.

January 2003
Starting on 4th January, Series 3 will be repeated again from Episode 1, weekends at 10am, repeated at 5pm.

Episode 1: Saturday 4th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 2: Sunday 5th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 3: Saturday 11th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 4: Sunday 12th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 5: Saturday 18th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 6: Sunday 19th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 7: Saturday 25th: 10am, repeated 5pm
Episode 8: Sunday 26th: 10am, repeated 5pm

You can now vote in the Christmas Cult Selection poll on their website at http://www.challenge.co.uk. There will be a countdown of the results on 1st January, and if Knightmare wins, episode 3 will be shown on that date!

If the viewing figures are good enough, it is likely that more episodes, series, and possibly a longer documentary will be scheduled.

25.11.2002 - **Makers of Knightmare announce re-format**

Press Release from Televirtual

After a nine year gap, Televirtual is to re-format the cult TV adventure game series KNIGHTMARE, which was produced by its parent company, Broadsword TV in the 80's and 90's, and re-create it as a LIVE TV event.

Televirtual founder Tim Child explained:' we have only just reclaimed full ownership of the format, which was jointly owned by ourselves and Anglia (now Granada Media), since 1986. The full rights recently reverted to us, and whereas it was financially impractical to carry the burden of reformatting under shared ownership, that is no longer the case.'

The original show involved blindfolding a young player or dungeoneer with a knight's helmet and sending them into a blue walled studio. Cromakey techniques then transposed this into an enthralling hand-drawn dungeon, created by artist David Rowe. A revived show would stay true to those early principles but with virtual reality and avatar (3d cloning) technology removing the need for any blindfolding or guiding of the studio based adventurer.

With a growing demand for shows which allow greater audience access and influence, playing Knightmare for live is a challenge in itself. 'We would aim to keep the game very simple and retro-looking," said Tim Child. 'Having said that, it won't be any simpler than the original eighties versions when we really didn't have the interactive technology to attempt half the things we tried."

Players in the revived dungeon will be transformed into 3d avatars, and will appear as themselves. They will be able to meet and converse with the similarly animated cast of characters and monsters in the dungeon.

The new Knightmare TV quest is being designed to sit within a longer, live, childrens' programming strand, with the game playing in two, separated 10-12 minute segments. This will allow polling decisions by the home audience to influence the dungeon-based obstacles and affect the narrative. Viewers of digital channels would also be able to access some of the multiple viewpoints available from Televirtual's RAP (Real time Animation Pipeline) system.

Televirtual: http://www.televirtual.com

19.11.2002 - **CHALLENGE to show Knightmare from this Christmas**

It has been confirmed that Challenge TV have bought the rights to show SERIES 3 (1989) of Knightmare as part of their 'Christmas Cult Selection' season.
 
This is certainly the best Knightmare Knews since the Sci-Fi Channel stopped showing Knightmare in October 1998.
 
Challenge is available on cable and satellite. More information at http://www.challenge.co.uk

18.11.2002 - Hugo Myatt in Dick Whittington

18.11.2002 - Site Knews

This website has been re-organised to make it easier to manage. Not much content has changed, but you may have noticed that there is now a Fan Stuff section and a Behind the Scenes section. These contain mostly existing documents moved from the Reviews or Pictures sections, as they were better classified elsewhere. We have also moved servers, and many pages have moved around, but things should settle down quickly.

09.09.2002 - bringbackknightmare.co.uk

There was a slight technical hitch with the ISP that hosts the bringbackknightmare.co.uk website. Consequently, all petition signatures before 4th September 2002 have been lost (some 2408 entries).

Would everyone please re-sign the petition at bringbackknightmare.co.uk

09.09.2002 - Jackie Sawiris signs Guestbook!

Recently, Jackie Sawiris, who played Majida in Knightmare signed the Guestbook on this site after being contacted by a fan:

09.09.2002 - Starfinder

Apparently just before Easter next year, CITV will be launching a new show similar to Knightmare called Starfinder. Controller of CITV Janie Grace has said: "It has some of the qualities KNIGHTMARE but has better narrative has the advantage of technology".

Well that's nice. We don't have any further information so if you know more then you know who to e-mail :)

Thanks to Jon Oborne who wrote to CITV.

09.09.2002 - 107.2 Wire FM

Yes, Knightmare got a mention on a phone in show about listener's favourite TV shoes, on 107.2 Wire FM in Warrington.

Thanks to Simon Appleton for the information.

15.07.2002 - More on TimeGate

Earlier this year we heard knews of a new TV adventure game show entitled 'TimeGate' from Televirtual, the makers of Knightmare.

More information is now available. Go to the new TimeGate Knews page.

01.05.2002 - 96 Trent FM Nottingham

This site and bringbackknightmare.co.uk was mentioned on 96 Trent FM on 19th April. Emily Bradshaw phoned in and mentioned the petition. So now you know :) and hello to everyone who visited this site as a result.

01.05.2002 - Iona Kennedy

Iona Kennedy (Sidriss and Greystagg) appeared in the comedy 'All About Me' alongside Jasper Carrott and Meera Syal on BBC ONE on 12th April 2002. She played a nurse in the children's ward.

Thanks to Anthony Hobson for the information.

25.03.2002 - Jason Karl on MOST HAUNTED

Winning dungeoneer from Series 2, Jason Karl, is to appear as co-presenter on Living TV's Most Haunted - a new 16 part series starting from April 2002.

He was also featured in the METROTRAVEL section of the free London METRO morning newspaper on 8th March. You can read an on-line version of this article on thetube.com: Ticket to fright!.

25.03.2002 - 1360 Squadron Air Training Corps

Okay, you may be thinking how on earth this has anything to do with Knightmare, but I had a nice e-mail from Emily who is an Air Cadet at 1360 (Stapleford) Squadron Air Training Corps in Nottingham. One every 2-3 weeks they do a Challenge Exercise where they are split into groups and take part in several tasks during at night. 

Emily came up with the idea to do a Knightmare exercise, involving the Squadron Headquarters being divided up into different dungeon rooms. A replica helmet of justice was to be made as was various props and costumes. Her plan was approved by their Cadet Warrant Officer (CWO), and it went ahead on the night of 21st March, with all the Corporals, Sergeants, Flight Sergeants and CWOs getting into character.

More information on the Squadron at 1360squadron.co.uk

25.03.2002 - Edmund Dehn

Edmund Dehn, who played Gumboil and a couple of other characters in the early series of Knightmare, plays a detective in the horror film Cradle of Fear, recently released in video. A pic and more info available at cradleoffear.com/site/html/cast.html

Thanks to Grilly for the information.

01.01.2002 - New Bring Back Knightmare campaign site launch

Alan Boyd has created a new website for the Bring Back Knightmare campaign at bringbackknightmare.co.uk. This new campaign site replaces the TES Bring Back Knightmare site and Tom Murphy's interim petition site (which has been running since November). 

From now on this new site will be the central point for all Bring Back Knightmare activity. It contains a petition to sign, news/responses and ideas to raise awareness of the campaign. 

01.01.2002 - Knightmare in The Mirror

On Fridays, The Mirror newspaper has a column reserved for letters commenting on the state of television today. On the 21st December, a letter from David Sim (Skelmersdale, Lancs) was published saying: 

"If there's one TV programme that should be repeated it's Knightmare. It was compelling, exciting and unique. Fantasy is very popular at the moment with Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings, so this would fit right in."

Excellent. But that's not all. Tom Murphy then e-mailed them to let them know about his Bring Back Knightmare Petition site. A week later, on the 28th December, the following was published:

"D Sim thinks Knightmare should return (TV Letters, December 21). He's not
alone, there's an online petition to bring back this superb and imaginative
programme: http://www.thegreatestquest.co.uk" *

* Note: This site has now been replaced with Alan Boyd's new campaign site at bringbackknightmare.co.uk. The Mirror mention follows a couple of other recent phone calls by Ben Maydon and Tom to the Tommy Boyd radio show, plugging the site.

Thanks to Dragon Rider for posting the first letter on the forum. 

01.01.2002 - Knightmare on Backchat

Knightmare was mentioned on Backchat - a comments page on teletext. The message was from someone called Rhys, asking if anyone remembered it and how it made his Fridays. 

Thanks to Ark for posting this on the Forum.

01.01.2002 - Debbie Glover

Well done to Debbie Glover who has been working on a college video production on Knightmare, and has interviewed many people behind the show, including Tim Child, Hugo Myatt, David Learner and David Rowe. She discovered the following interesting info:

Knightmare Bloopers
In one of the earlier series there was a very demure female dungeoneer who, on the direction of her advisors, marched very determinedly toward the blue screen and smacked into the wall. "She then let out a string of expletives, some I had never heard of and they were quite wonderful really!" - Hugo Myatt.

"Ooh, nasty"
Ooh nasty was Hugo's own catchphrase, and it was not scripted. He then proceeded to give a rendition which was fantastic!

01.01.2002 - 3 years of this website!

Yes I cannot believe its already 3 years since this site launched in January 1999. I'm sure you'll agree a huge amount of information has been added to the site since, and there's a lot more stuff to come but you'll have to wait to see exactly what.

On the 12th December the site reached 100,000 hits, and more than 300 people on the mailing list. By far the biggest boost in hits came on the 27th August - the day after Knightmare was featured on Channel 4's 'The 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows'. Its great and thanks for visiting!

19.11.2001 - David Learner

I understand that David Learner (Pickle) has left X-CEL FM, where he presented a Sunday afternoon show (see 16.04.01). The station was recently taken over by the UKRD group, and as a result the station has been re-named Star 107.9, and the schedule overhauled.

19.11.2001 - Nicholas Collett

On 10.07.99 we mentioned Third Party Productions - a touring theatre company co-directed by Tim and Sue Child of Broadsword/Televirtual, and has Nicholas Collett ('Buster' in TimeBusters) involved in performing. Their most recent production was The Changeing. See their website for more details.

Nicholas will be appearing as Bombur in a production of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit at the Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London from 28th November 2001 until 19th January 2002. See the theatre website for more details.

15.11.2001 - Hugo Myatt in Dick Whittington

05.11.2001 - Mark Knight signs Guestbook

In September, Mark Knight, who played the leader of the opposition and other characters in Knightmare, signed the Guestbook:

I was amazed to see that Knightmare lives on here on the web and in the hearts of the viewers. I played Lord Fear and was very sad when the show ended. 

Thank you for running this website, and thanks to all the people who enjoyed the show so much.

Thanks Mark, its great to hear from you.

---

05.11.2001 - The 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows

Okay, we're a bit behind on the knews at the moment, but just for the record, Knightmare achieved 16th place on Channel 4's 'The 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows', which was broadcast on the 27th August. A transcript of Knightmare's feature and a video clip is now available here. Also look what effect this show had to this site's hit counter graph.

30.07.2001 - Return of the Greater Game?

Televirtual (the same people who created Knightmare) are developing a format for a new TV adventure game show entitled 'TimeGate - a game to die for'. 

No further details are available at the moment, apart from the fact that it will not be a children's show. See promotional graphic.

Thanks to Tim Child for the information.

30.07.2001 - Actor Appearances

A few Knightmare actors have appeared in various TV drama shows in recent weeks. Here is what we know:

Hugo Myatt (Treguard) appeared in the new BBC ONE drama series - 'Life as we know it' starring Richard Wilson. He played a Vicar at a funeral service on the episode shown on 22nd July 2001.

Iona Kennedy (Sidriss) appeared on a train in the comedy sitcom 'Barbara' shown on 15th July 2001.

Michael Cule (Brother Mace) appeared as a contestant on the ITV quiz show 'The People Versus' shown on 6th July 2001. He was the first contestant on that day's show and lasted 10 minutes at which point he ran out of 'flip' questions and took £1000. His specialist subject was series 1-4 of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. He also said that he was working as a civil servant at the moment.

Thanks to Kieran, Neil Jones, Daniel Pridham and Sidriss for the above information.

30.07.2001 - Extra Actor Knews

Thanks to Neil Jones who has found the following information on the web. Some of these appearances have been mentioned previously in Knightmare Knews but are repeated here for convenience. 

27.11.2000 - Joanne Heywood

Joanne Heywood, who played 'Stilletta' from Knightmare Series 8 was spotted in ITV's drama 'Heartbeat' last night playing the character 'Rachel Osborne'. 

Thanks again to Richard Lowe for this information!

27.11.2000 - Hugo Myatt in Aladdin

Thanks to Emmett B for informing me, and to Richard Lowe for the scan of the flyer.

27.11.00 - Knew Knightmare Site!

The web team at Anglia Television have let me know that a new section on their website, called 'Anglia Gold', has been launched. It is a look back at some of the most well-known shows in Anglia's 40-year history.

Included is a great section dedicated to Knightmare, including information about the show, the cast, spin-offs and an FAQ. There is also a Realplayer video clip from Series 8, and a Flash-format interactive adventure game coming early next year entitled 'KNIGHTMARE - Shadow of the Technomancer'.

Go on... have a look!
angliatv.com/angliagold/

In addition, a new book is now available entitled 'A Knight On The Box - A celebration of 40 years of Anglia'. The book only features one page on Knightmare (and it's spin-off - Virtually Impossible), but if you are also interested in the history of Anglia and it's programmes, then its a good read. More information is available at the same URL above.

27.11.2000 - BBC Radio Two

On the 'Steve Wright in the Afternoon' show on 23rd November 2000, the following quiz question was asked:

"What TV show had Treguard as it's Dungeon Master?"

Great! Thanks to Richard Lowe for this information.

23.10.00 - Hugo Myatt

Back in June 1999, Knightmare Knews reported that Hugo Myatt appeared on a BBC TWO Education programme about ancient Greece. Well, I just happened to turn the TV on this Lunchtime and there he was again! It was repeated today (23rd October at 11.55am) and I can now confirm that the programme was called 'ZIG ZAG'. It was 15 minutes long, and originally made in 1996 which indicates it has probably been repeated many times.

The programme was in two parts. The first was about pottery, and Hugo played the role of 'Stephanos' - a stall holder demonstrating various items. The second part was about the legend 'Theses and the Minotaur', where Hugo narrated the story.

23.10.00 - Robot Wars

Fans of the BBC TWO series Robot Wars may be interested to know that a forthcoming episode this series will feature a robot called 'Knightmare'! I wonder where they got the name from then :)  The episode in question will be broadcast in December 2000.

Anyway, it is part of HEAT L, which features these robots:

Spawn of Scutter, Banshee, Knightmare
Plunderbird, Fat Boy Tin, Vercingetorix

Thanks to Jon Harris for letting me know of this.

10.10.00 - On Golden Pond?

Neil Jones of NKTP recently informed me that the name Hugo Myatt (who played Treguard, Knightmare's one and only dungeon master in case you didn't know!) was mentioned in a local paper news story about a dramatisation of an Ernest Thompson play at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton. He was the director of this play, called 'On Golden Pond', running from 25th - 29th July 2000.

We don't know for sure if this is the same Hugo Myatt, but it is well known that Hugo does a lot of theatre directing work as well as acting, so the chances are that it probably is him. And if you're wondering what the play was all about, here is the description from the theatre's website:

Ethel and Norman return to their summer home on Golden Pond. Their divorced, middle-aged daughter, her new fiancé and his son arrive, and when the couple leave for Europe, they leave the teenager behind. The boy gradually becomes the grandchild the couple long for as they rediscover their own youth. 

Memorably filmed winning Oscars for stars Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn, this is a wonderfully funny and touching play.

10.08.00 - Iona Kennedy

Karl recently mentioned on the forum that Iona Kennedy's name appeared in the end credits of the recent BBC Drama 'Hope & Glory', playing 'Mrs. Hall'. Now, I watched all four episodes and didn't notice her, so I don't know for sure if she is the same actor that played Sidriss/Greystagg/Maldame in Knightmare.

16.02.00 - ChuckleVision

Hugo Myatt (Treguard) appeared on CBBC's ChuckleVision today, playing a vampire!
'Paul and Barry enter the Transylvanian garlic-hunting competition and stay in a scary castle.'