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.
1996
Knightmare repeats continue on the Sci-Fi channel.
1997
The Eye Shield launches a Bring Back Knightmare campaign, however it was difficult to reach many people from a print based magazine with a limited readership.
1998
The Sci-Fi Channel begins repeating Knightmare again to UK Cable viewers until October when their 3 year rights expired mid-way through Series 4.
1999
This website launches. The TES BBK campaign is re-launched with further letters and petitions sent to TV companies, with not much success. As a result of much speculation over the reasons behind the demise of Knightmare, Tim Child writes The History of Knightmare revealing the true story for the first time.
2000
More people re-discover Knightmare on the web and join in the campaign. Televirtual (formerly Broadsword) announce that they have new adventure game formats in development.
2001
The website continues to grow with contributions from production staff, former contestants, fans, actors and Anglia TV. The ongoing popularity of Knightmare is confirmed through a ranking of 16th place in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Kid's TV Shows.
2002
Challenge purchases the rights to show Knightmare Series 3 as part of the Cult Selection feature from 24th December at Christmas and beyond. A short documentary is filmed with Tim Child and Hugo Myatt. The format rights to Knightmare revert back from Anglia to Televirtual, and subsequently Televirtual announce details of a reformat - Knightmare VR in development with Lottery funding. An adult format development entitled TimeGate is also announced.
2003
Granada Media said to be interested in DVD releases of the original Knightmare episodes. Challenge purchases Series 4 and broadcasts from 2nd June in prime time. Televirtual wins Lottery funding for the development of a demonstrator for Knightmare VR. Challenge buys the rights for Series 5 and broadcasts from 20th October.
2004
It's 5 years of knightmare.com. Challenge buys the rights for Series 6, 7 & 8. Series 6 commenced in mid-April, followed by re-runs of all Knightmare episodes again from Series 1! Televirtual announce that the Knightmare VR demonstrator is complete and a launch event is held in London to demonstrate Knightmare VR to the industry. A pilot episode for Knightmare VR is also recorded, and clips made available online.
Other
Knightmare Series 5 & 6 was also shown on New York 55 TV station for a brief period, and also Knightmare was shown on the Sci-Fi Channel in the US for about a year on and off. We don't know exactly what year this happened or what series were shown.