Series Guides
Knightmare on Children's ITV : Knightmare on Teletext : Auditioning for Knightmare
Relevant audio and video clips can be found amongst the individual Series Guides, or as an index in the Clips section. Remember that you can download and save any clip to your hard disk (instead of viewing them online) by RIGHT clicking on the link, and choosing 'Save Target As' (or similar).
A total of 112 23/24/25 minute episodes were made. The budget for each episode was £50k, making it very expensive for a game show but cheap for a drama (Knightmare had both elements). There were eight winning teams over the eight series as follows (thanks to Billy Hicks for compiling this):
| Series | Team | Team Names | Quest | Episode | Date |
| 2 | 4 | Mark, Daniel, Matthew and Jonathan | Free Maid | 5 | 03.10.88 |
| 2 | 10 | Julian, Vaughan, Becca and Mary | Retrieve Talisman | 13 | 28.11.88 |
| 4 | 6 | Dickon, Dominic, Tim and Praveen | Crown | 13 | 30.11.90 |
| 5 | 4 | Ben, John, Ray and Jonathan | Shield | 9 | 01.11.91 |
| 6 | 5 | Ben, James, Alan and Nathan | Crown | 11 | 20.11.92 |
| 7 | 6 | Julie, Helen, Samantha and Helen | Sword | 12 | 26.11.93 |
| 7 | 7 | Barry, Simon, Derek and Daniel | Shield | 15 | 17.12.93 |
| 8 | 6 | Dunstan, Alan, Oliver and Alex | Crown | 10 | 11.11.94 |
A Brief History of the Knightmare Series
1985
The idea for Knightmare was established and the format went into development. See The History of Knightmare.1986
Cromakey tests conducted in Anglia TV's Studio A. The first pilot episode was filmed, entitled Dungeon Doom. Later, a second pilot was filmed with improved opening titles and life force graphics added, and the name changed to Knightmare. The finished pilot viewed by the ITV Children's' Committee, who decided to commissioned 8 half-hour episodes.1987
Series 1 went into production and was transmitted from Monday 7th September 1987 at 4.45pm - the same year that Children's ITV introduced live presentation. A second series of 16 episodes was commissioned.
1988
Series 2 transmitted from Monday 5th September 1988. Children's ITV announces a competition for viewers to design a dungeon chamber, and presenter Mark Granger talks to dungeoneer Mark on the phone after their winning episode. Knightmare wins a bronze medal from the Youth Programmes category of the New York International Film & TV Awards 1988. Another series of 16 episodes commissioned by ITV.
1989
Series 3 transmitted from Friday 8th September 1989. Another series of 16 episodes commissioned.
1990
Broadsword produces The Satellite Game for The Children's Channel on BSB Satellite, starring David Learner who became Treguard's first assistant - Pickle in Knightmare Series 4. A French version of Knightmare - Le Chevalier du Labyrinthe and a Spanish version - El Rescate du Talisman commissioned and went into production in their respective countries.Series 4 was filmed with the introduction of many outdoor filmed scenes compared with the painted rooms of the first three series. An Eye Shield introduced to enable players to view video of the path the dungeonner is taking. Series 4 transmitted from Friday 7th September 1990. Another series of 16 episodes commissioned.
1991
A German production of Knightmare was agreed with RTL. Broadsword Television were to make the first series of 50 episodes in Norwich, and then export the production to Cologne for the second series. However, this was cancelled. Series 5 transmitted from Friday 6th September 1991. Smirkenorff and Lord Fear introduced. Another series of 15 episodes commissioned.1992
Series 6 transmitted from Friday 11th September 1992. Another series of 15 episodes commissioned. Knightmare narrowly fails to win the Royal Television Society award for best children's programme.1993
Broadsword produces TimeBusters for Children's BBC starring many Knightmare actors. Majida introduced as the new assistant to Treguard, replacing Pickle. Series 7 transmitted from Friday 10th September 1993. At the end of filming for Series 7, the production team was kept for two days to film a pilot episode entitled Lords of the Game, for the US market. The same cast was used except Treguard was played by an American actor, and players were supplied from US air base in Mildenhall, Suffolk. However, US production companies did not like the technical complexity of Cromakey based shows and therefore there was no commission.New controller of Children's Programmes at ITV - Dawn Airey, decides to re-commission Knightmare for a shorter series of 10 episodes as a result of issues over the age demographic of children's ITV viewing becoming younger than that Knightmare was aimed at. A potential successor to Knightmare - Virtually Impossible, aimed at a younger audience, was also commissioned.
1994
Series 8 goes into production with a return to 'the gloom of the dungeon' and more computer generated scenes introduced. It was transmitted from Friday 9th September 1994 followed by a short series of Virtually Impossible, also produced by Broadsword. Knightmare continued to attract good viewing figures, however Virtually Impossible didn't prove popular. After much discussion between Broadsword, Anglia and ITV, neither programme was re-commissioned.1995
ITV controller of children's - now Vanessa Chapman replies to letters blaming the demise of Knightmare because of a fall in ratings. Broadsword explain that Knightmare should ideally be rested until the technology is better developed for Knightmare to go full VR.Broadsword meets with Children's BBC to discuss a possible transfer of Knightmare from ITV, but these fell down due to copyright reasons and other factors. As a result, Broadsword develops a new adventure game show entitled The Sword of the Sorcerer for Children's BBC, but it was not commissioned despite much interest.
Knightmare repeats begin on the Sci-Fi channel in the UK and Europe.