A look back at two Knightmare-related features in the short-lived retro-culture magazine from the mid-2010s.
TARDIS (2016)
An interview with Mark Cordory in Issue 7 (April 2016) retraced the highlights of his stellar career as a prop designer and creator for LARP, music and television.
He recalls joining Talismen Studios in 1989 as his first real experience of working in TV. After making props for Maid Marian and her Merry Men, the offer came in to create Knightmare's famous dragon, Smirkenorff.
"I painted him and was part of the team that went to Anglia Studios and dressed in a blue suit in a blue room puppeteering him with rods for all the flying sequences," he explains.
"The following year I created a head that would talk in close-up, frown and blink.
I am very proud of Knightmare. To realise that a dragon that I sculpted became such a big part of people's childhoods is great. I'm part of that story in some small way.
Cordory continues with stories about some the challenges he faced as Head of Props Fabrication for Doctor Who at BBC Wales.
One of these is about the damage to Sonic Screwdrivers and how his team resolved it.
He concludes by reflecting on how the over-reliance on green screen and CGI has stripped away the viewer's sense of wonder.
"Good special effects are very much akin to good stage magic", he says. "You need people to go away wondering how you did it. With CGI, where's the magic?"
Perhaps his fondness for Knightmare stems from its position at the interface between practical and graphical effects - another point of innovation for the show that is not routinely covered.
Enter Stranger (2017)
A year later came a short retrospective of Knightmare in Issue 19 (April 2017), illustrated by a series of captures from reruns on Challenge.
It was written by cybersecurity journalist Nate Drake, author of 'I Am Not Good: The History of Cheating in Video Games' (2026).
It's a succinct summary of the show, from its origin story through to its ill-fated successor, Virtually Impossible.
A standout point regards the difficulty level, which is one of the show's unique selling points.
Surprisingly enough for a children's show, the standard of difficulty was very high.
About Geeky Monkey
Geeky Monkey lasted for around two years in a competitive retro gaming and culture market that includes long-established titles SFX (1995-), Retro Gamer (2004-), and Den of Geek (2007-).
One of its occasional contributors was comedian and writer Paul Gannon, who has had multiple appearances on Knightmare Live (including one of Hugo Myatt's appearances in 2016).
Shortly afterwards, Wireframe emerged as a gaming magazine that spotlighted independent game developers and offered readers advice and resources for game creation.
Wireframe featured Knightmare in 2020 alongside CBBC's Last Commanders, which had broadcast its second series in 2019. That magazine ended in print in January 2023.
