Knightmare's final dungeoneer shares his experience on the show and some behind-the-scenes insights from Series 8.
A year on from his retrospective to mark 30 years since Knightmare's final episode, we caught up again with dungeoneer Oliver Duhl to learn more about his experience on the show.
Your audition went very well, by all accounts. Can you tell us about your memories of auditioning?
We travelled to a hotel in Manchester for the audition.
I think we only had three steps. Two were riddles old Granitas might have posed (and indeed, did, in one case).
- You have two clocks. One is broken, the other runs 5 minutes slow. Which of them tells the correct time most often?
- You plant a new tree on Monday. It doubles in size every day and reaches its fully grown size on Sunday. On which day was it half its full size?
The final step was a micro-RPG scenario, featuring a river to cross. On our side of the river is a cave. Inside await a bundle of items, and we're able to choose only one of them. Which one would we use to cross the river safely?
We answered the first two very quickly. I can still remember all four of us shouting "Saturday!" immediately and simultaneously, evoking much laughter from the grown-ups.
Our Dungeons & Dragons playing at school safely saw us speed through the river crossing scenario as well.
Tim Child and (I think) Sue Child did our audition. Based on our performance, it was over very quickly. The travel to and from Manchester took us far longer!
You walked the Corridor of Blades (for reasons we know) and survived. But there's a video of you disappearing through the wall!
I recall Ian Craig (First Assistant Director) saying he hoped we'd take the shortcut when walking me back from the back of the blue void post-scene filming.
We'd practised the Corridor of Blades long before we got to Norwich. Of our advisors, it was agreed that Anthony had the clearest head and instructions, so he would issue the guidance.
When it came to filming the sequence, I obviously knew it was coming. It was hardly a spoiler - the spyglass sequence had been all about speeding up the blades.
It was filmed against the left wall of the studio. The crew creates a portable wall about halfway across the void that serves as the right-hand wall of the corridor.
As I'd been practising, I was keen at leaping left and right. I got a bit carried away and knocked the portable side so that it wobbled and shunted sideways.
According to this website, a few lucky visitors were in-studio watching us - something I don’t remember. In their account, I also apparently walked beyond the point of the mobile wall.
I don't remember this either, but it was possible. We did have to pause filming, and it may explain why David's spellcasting to slow down the blades wasn't broadcast – as we didn't re-film that aspect.
[Watch for Oliver at 3:30]
The production team definitely sped up the blades since they were introduced in Series 4. I think ours were quicker than most.
Given my rather athletic performance in that room, Ian swooped on me after filming and 'accused' me of somehow knowing what was coming. Fun times. He was the crew member with whom I connected the most.
The end of series is often unpredictable. Was there anything you filmed that got cut from the broadcast?
Yes. Even though my quest looks and feels shorter and easier than others, we did film more than I suspect many realise.
You can sense the editorial pinch begin immediately when we appear to start in a clue room. That's not where we started when filming, so anything before that had been cut.
For our practice room (which all teams get before shooting for real), we had the Moving Blocks. We had to cross three chasms across sliding stone walkways. The intent was to include this as part of my quest, but it didn't make it in.
I also filmed an encounter with the fearsome Maldame in Linghorm.
This, we later discover, is made more interesting because of a showdown that was announced in Dunstan's quest (before ours). A red dragon was dispatched to destroy Linghorm. Maldame survived.
Unfortunately, due to terrible feedback in my earpiece, I couldn't hear what she said. The shrieking in my ear when she was speaking was quite alarming and very painful - and you don’t want to disrupt filming or assume that something is wrong. I could hardly escape it, either.
In hindsight, cutting that makes sense, because I suspect the interaction plays back bizarrely. I had no clue what Maldame was saying. All I had to go on is what my advisors were saying to me. So, the ending of that story arc might have to remain a mystery!
I have a hunch that she and I reached an accord, which probably didn't bode well for Lord Fear. Perhaps he was responsible for the painful feedback in my ear!
Our total screen time was around 15 minutes. We probably filmed at least half as much again that wasn’t shown. But we'd definitely have taken what we had over not getting to play at all.
What are your memories of meeting cast and crew around the venue? Was there a sense of 'packing up' as you finished?
We were strictly chaperoned to and from the green room. If we wanted to leave, we had to request it, and someone from the production company had to accompany us.
There was one overlap with cast during lunch. I remember Treguard and Majida in full costume in the restaurant on a different table. Tim Child had told us before lunch that we'd see the two actors there and not to approach them.
Martin Cairns (Director) took us for a little tour of the tech room where all the chromakey magic was performed. I remember a small and very warm cupboard-like room, with an entire chassis of computers.
Ian (AD) was my main point of contact. Ian would put the helmet on me and lead me to the edge of the blue void. He checked that my mic and headphones (inside the helmet) were working.
Once we reached the exit at the far side of the room, I had to press my shoulder against the hard wall and wait for "cut" to be called.
Ian then came over, removed the helmet, and escorted me out of the studio filming area, where I'd be reunited with the advisors and all of us returned to the Green Room.
I do vaguely recall crew members starting to pack up once we'd finished filming. But we had our return train to catch and didn't stick around very long. David's father took some photos of us with Treguard, Majida and Clifford Norgate.
A shame I never got to meet Hordriss, but I did interact with Clifford as the voice of Smirkenorff.
We'd already checked out of the hotel before returning to the studios that day, and I have the faintest memories of getting a taxi on that very sunny August late afternoon, back to the station. And that was that.
What was the reaction like at the time (at school, from family, etc)?
My family was pleased for me, even if my mum didn't quite really get it. When I described to her the Corridor of Blades, I remember her asking whether they were real blades or not.
School was more of a mixed bag. There were some who were envious, some who couldn't care less, and a small handful who used it to poke fun.
That kind of thing never bothered me. I chalked it up as a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, and something they'd never have. I think hundreds of teams auditioned for Series 8, which is just nuts.
For some, I think appearing on TV was the main lure. For me, it was always about the adventure side of it. I'd spent so long imagining being on it, but never, ever expecting to have the chance. That our adventure was televised was just the cherry on top.
I was a freshly minted thirteen-year-old at the time, and I didn't have a great deal of confidence. Even during the whole experience, I was always very mindful that I was in a TV studio and rigidly stuck to all the rules!
Plus, I think it was the first time in my life I'd stayed away from home without adults I knew well. So, looking back, I think I was kind of awed by the experience.
What did you take away from the experience? Did it have much influence on you?
I think it showed me that dreams are possible. It was a surreal experience in that sense.
Norwich became a bit of a mythical place for me. It has this subtle little way of always pulling me back! It's a great city and I've always had a great time there.
I've always been a bit of a geek and had already been playing Dungeons & Dragons when we filmed (all three of my teammates were in the same school D&D group).
After a hiatus, I still run two weekly D&D groups. I sprinkle either little easter eggs into the games where I can, or, on occasion, import entire puzzles into them, reshaped to fit the TTRPG rule set. I'm also infamous for playing the death knell and tolling bells when a player's character dies, or even an audio snippet of Treguard's inimitable "Ooh, nasty!".
If the group is veering too far off course, Brother Strange has been known to spring up and in exchange for a decent proverb, offer some pointers.
A couple of the players were also huge fans of the show back in the day, and initially thought I was making it up when I first told them I'd been on Knightmare!
Knightmare remained my favourite TV show, and I was very sad when it emerged our episode was its last.
What is even more clear to me now than it was back then is that Knightmare was - and is - unique. There's been no show like it since.
The leaps and bounds of technology since the mid-90s do make me wonder how it'd all look now. Yes, TV audiences have changed, etc, but I can think of no time in my lifetime where the appetite for fantasy adventure has ever been greater.
More from Oliver
See Oliver's 2024 retrospective on appearing in the final episode.
