Knightmare on
Challenge?
Christmas 2002
Series 3 Knightmare repeats started on Challenge on 23rd December as part of the Christmas Cult Selection season on Challenge. A short Knightmare documentary (around 2.5 minutes) was also shown immediately before each broadcast, featuring various clips from Series 3 and contributions. A video clip and transcript follows:
Clip available in 'Other Clips'
Voiceover: "ITV's pioneering virtual reality adventure Knightmare has a special place in the hearts of children born in the late 70s. The name might not ring any bells, but mention a terrified kid with a bucket on his head, and suddenly you're back behind the sofa."
Tim Child: "The kids were really the stars. The great games playing age is in
that last few months when raging hormones are just about kicking in,
but they're nor quite there."
"Give me games players of that age, with the ability to communicate
with each other, and you'll always get a great game."
"It sort of started in the mid 1980s. My eldest sister at the time
was a sidekick with Clive Sinclair (who invented home computers and
things like that). So the idea of taking the idea of an interactive
computer game, and operating it in a television scenario, and playing
it live in a television studio came about."
"If they tilted their heads far enough back, they can see the clue
tables across the room. When they did that, they were told that the
blindfold would go on underneath if they didn't behave themselves."
Hugo Myatt: "Once you got into the game, there were no re-takes, and that I think is one of the reasons it has this feeling its on the edge. I mean you do sit on the edge of your seat, you get so involved."
"Their decision making was incredible."
Tim Child:
"The adventure is their adventure to play. Its not just a series of
hurdles, that they need to go. We went out of our way to make it a
serious challenge."
"This was a major experience being away from home by some
youngsters of 11 years old staying in hotels for the first time, in a
large studio full of wizards, monsters and goodness knows what else.
Quite amazing how they stood up to it."
Voiceover: "Knightmare was tough, but these kids already had a sense of where they were going in life. Out of 70 teams, only 8 completed the game. Dealing with fools and maniacs, teamwork and stress, leading to eventually failure and off hand dismissal, were adult lessons learnt at a tender age. And where are these bright kids now? Well, you're probably working for them."
A Challenge? ident from February 2003 showing Knightmare on the TV Listings.
Click on picture for a larger version
Challenge have also produced short trailers for Knightmare during 2003. These can be downloaded in the Clips section. You can also have a look at the ratings for Knightmare on Challenge during the period January - June 2003.