The Eye Shield - BBK

Please Note: These TES Bring Back Knightmare pages have now been superceded by a new Bring Back Knightmare campaign site run by Alan Boyd. http://www.bringbackknightmare.co.uk

Here are the responses so far from the various TV channels. Thanks to everyone for their help in the campaign so far. Remember to e-mail any responses you get to us.

Petition Replies: The latest responses to the TES BBK petition, as sent to the TV channels by Tom Murphy are listed below. A copy of the petition has also been sent to Paul Holland at Granada Enterprises to support a release of Knightmare on DVD or Video (no reply yet).

Dear Thomas

Re: Knightmare

Thank you for your letter suggesting a new series of Knightmare, which has been passed to me to respond to.

Knightmare doesn't fell right for the current T4 line-up so for the moment I'll have to pass on it. Thank you once again for contacting us.

Best wishes,

(PP signature)

Sarah Baynes

Dear Mr. Murphy

Thank you for your letter of 8 January addresses to the Controller of Programmes, regarding the Children's ITV series Knightmare. Due to the volume of correspondence she receives, Acting Director of Television Sophie Turner Laing is unable to answer personally. Once they have been read, letters are forwarded to this department for reply.

I was interested to read about the website www.knightmare.com, and about the online petition in favour of a new series of the CITV hit. At the moment, however, I am afraid that the BBC has no plans to commission a new series of Knightmare from Broadsword Television.

I am sorry to disappoint you, but please be assured that your suggestion, comments and enthusiasm have been recorded for the benefit of senior management and the relevant commissioning personnel. The BBC always welcomes all feedback, as it helps us to make decisions about future programmes or policies.

Thank you again for your interest in the BBC and for taking the trouble to write.

Yours sincerely

Neil McFarlane
BBC Information

I was interested to read about the current fan base knightmare still receives, eight years after it was last broadcast on CITV. At the moment, however, I am afraid that the BBC has no plans to commission a new series of Knightmare from Broadsword Television, and we do not hold the broadcasting rights to the old series, which are retained by ITV

Thank you again for your interest in the BBC and taking the trouble to write

Neil McFarlane
BBC Information

Dear Thomas

Thank you for your letter regarding Knightmare.

ITV originally broadcast Knightmare and I think they are the channel you should target with your request.

I would be interested to know how many of your 1455 petitioners are under 12.

Good luck but I'm afraid I can't place the programme on Channel 5.

Warm regards,

Nick Wilson (Controller of Children's and Youth programmes),

Dear Thomas

Re: Knightmare

Thank you for your letter of 4th January.

CiTV do not produce programming, we only buy completed commissioned programmes and are therefore unable to help with your request for a new series of Knightmare. I am forwarding your letter to the Controller of Children's at Granada Television who were the original makers so that they may respond to your query.

Kind regards

Janie Grace.

Dear Mr. Murphy,

Thank you for your recent letter concerning "Knightmare" and for the copy of the very impressive petition which you have raised!

I'm very sorry to disappoint you but ITV has no plans to show the series again. All eight series' were sold by ITEL on behalf of Anglia/Broadsword some years ago to a cable channel. There is a website with extensive information about the programme at www.knightmare.com.

Best wishes

Yours sincerely

Duty Office Manager

Tom's letter to Anglia stated that he was enclosing the petition on behalf of this website, and they reply saying the URL of the same website where the petition originated from. Hmm...

Dear Tom

Re: KNIGHTMARE

Thank you for your letter of 15th November.

I'm afraid Knightmare is no longer in license to ITV and we do not hold the transmission rights air this series. Our acquisition line up is full for the foreseeable future, however, we will bear your letter and petition in mind should this programme be offered to us in the future.

Kind regards

Janie Grace (Controller of CITV)

James received a reply from Fox Kids. They have no plans to show Knightmare at present.

We have made a note of the programme KNIGHTMARE you suggest we purchase. However, although this may have been successful for other channels, this doesn't automatically make it viable for Channel 5. We have a much smaller budget than the other terrestrial broadcasters and have overcome this disadvantage by offering programmes and schedules that are desirably different to those of our competitors.

Channel 5's identity has developed since launch and we now offer a genuine alternative to the other channels. We've got so much good programming of our own coming up, it is very unlikely that we'd be interested in old shows from the other channels.

Thanks for your email. We have contacted CiTV's Head of Scheduling and
sadly there are no current plans to re-commission Knightmare. Despite a loyal group of enthusiastic fans, overall audience ratings for the show were poor, and this is the reason it was originally taken off air. Knightmare is not in license to CiTV any more, and this means that they can not show repeats of the old series.

Some shows have to be taken off air to make way for new ones. If this didn't happen, programme makers would be less willing to invest time and money in brand new dramas, factual programmes, cartoons and gameshows, and we would continuously be watching the same stuff. It is unfortunate that this can mean disappointing fans of old shows, but the aim is to provide enough high quality new content for them to find new favourites. We hope you continue to enjoy watching CiTV.

Best wishes

CiTV Web Team

Eh? On the 3rd line: "overall audience ratings for the show were poor, and this is the reason it was originally taken off air". Totally contradicts an earlier reply from ITV that said "Knightmare did receive good viewing figures at the time it was transmitted". Indeed.

Sci·Fi recently responded to a question asked in their Forum about Knightmare:

Thanks very much for your email to Challenge regarding the old gameshow Knightmare. While it is true that there are no plans at present to show the programme, please don't think your email will make no difference! We will pass it on to the programme controllers, and we are positive they will do their very best to accommodate the request.

Personally I remember that show, and I was also an avid fan (although I thought it was better before they introduced the "Pickles" character, played by David Learner who is also famous for being the bloke in the Marvin the Paranoid Android suit in the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, did you know that?!)

Anyway, you didn't get in touch to hear my opinion on the show, so I'll cut it short and assure you I've passed your comments on.

Thanks again!

Regards,

Viewer Relations.

Unfortunately, BSkyB has no plans at present to broadcast Knightmare.

Rest assured, however, that your interest in this series has been noted and passed on to the Head of Programming for his attention.

Owain Gwynne received a reply to his e-mail to the Channel 5 Duty Office, asking whether they have the rights to broadcast repeats of Knightmare. They said that although they cannot guarantee to bring back Knightmare, if the opportunity to acquire any new rights arises, the request will be taken into consideration.

Thank you for your e-mail. Please accept our apologies for the delay in replying. We know our correspondents appreciate a quick response and we are sorry you have had to wait on this occasion.

At present there are no plans for the BBC to purchase the rights to the CITV series 'Knightmare'. However, please be assured I have registered your interest and suggestion for the attention of our programme planners.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write.

Regards

BBC Information

Neil Jones has sent me the responses he has received so far from his letters to the main terrestrial TV channels:

Thank you for your letter of 28 March which I read with interest.

I am afraid we have no plans to transmit Knightmare on CiTV in the future and this series is now out of license. Although Knightmare was made by Anglia Television, it is not the property of ITV and we would, in fact, need to enter into negotiations with Anglia should we wish to buy the transmission rights back again.

Although Knightmare did receive good viewing figures at the time it was transmitted, you cannot make direct comparisons with the current broadcasting marketplace since there was little competition from cable and satellite channels at that time. Cable and satellite channels such as Nickelodeon and Fox Kids now draw approximately 25% of the child audience each day and the viewing figures for Knightmare, were it to air now, would be considerably lower than it's original performance.

Series such as Knightmare ... were not recommissioned since broadcasters need to make way for new programmes and new talent to emerge. Were this not the case, successful programmes such as Pokémon ... would not be available to our viewers now.

I am sure you will appreciate that technology has moved on considerably over the last 10 years, and watching programmes like Knightrider, ... which were technically superior in their time, do not have the same impact now as when first aired. This can also be said of Knightmare.

I hope you continue to enjoy watching the new programmes on CiTV.

Thank you ... [I read with great interest, but] I have no plans to run Knightmare.

Maybe you should try ITV instead. I have made a note of your interest and will be in contact with you if things change."

(From Youth and Religious controller at Channel 5)

Thank you ... At present the BBC has no plans to transmit ... Knightmare. I have ... registered your wish to see a series or repeats of the ... series and I have [also] logged the Website address [to] be taken into consideration if decisions about this programme are to be made.

(from BBC Information In Belfast.)