Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club (2010). Banner from the programme titles.

Knightmare on ITV4's Beer & Pizza Club

By Keith McDonald

Knightmare featured on Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club (ITV4) in November 2010. Dave Berry nominated Knightmare for the category of 'most underrated television show'.


Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club (2010). Image of Richard Bacon from the programme titles.

Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club was a late-night chat show from Talkback Thames shown on ITV4 on Wednesday evenings in the autumn of 2010.

Guests included comedians and celebrities, each presenting a topic of interest or question to be discussed.

Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club (2010). Presenters and guests turn to watch a clip of Knightmare.

Knightmare featured on the seventh episode of the series (the first to be filmed), which was broadcast on Wednesday 3 November. The guests were Jack Osborne, Dave Berry and Charlie Baker.

During the episode, Richard Bacon asked the panel to name their most underrated television show.

DownloadWatch the clip (9.82MB)

'Kids' classic of the 90s'

Dave Berry raised Knightmare with great confidence, introducing it as 'a kids' classic of the 90s' and engaging the audience to cheer.

Neither Bacon nor Osborne had heard of the show.

Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club (2010). Dave Berry champions Knightmare to the audience.

Berry described Knightmare in mock-hyperbole. He compared the fantasy element of the show to 'Lord of the Rings' and described Hugo Myatt as 'Stanislavski'.

Berry then makes a quip about knowing left from right before we see the famous 'side-step left' moment of Series 4 (1990). It's the first showing of Knightmare on ITV since the CiTV birthday event in 2003.

If you are gonna do Knightmare, you need to know left from right...

Dave Berry

Other contenders

Knightmare competed against two other candidates, daytime quiz show Going for Gold and pop culture show The Word.

Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club (2010). Clip of the Going for Gold titles.

Going for Gold began in 1987, like Knightmare, and lasted for ten series. Hosted by Henry Kelly, it featured contestants from across Europe but was conducted completely in English.

The Word was originally intended to join Knightmare as edgy early-evening entertainment but was swiftly moved to an after-dark slot.

Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club (2010). Image of 'The Word' titles.

Its creator, Charlie Parsons, recently claimed that The Word had 'changed television forever'. Nevertheless, it didn't convince on the night.

Berry fought his corner to win the round, stating that Knightmare should still be running.

Encore

Team Berry's quest was to reach the fridge and lasted 1 minute.

Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club (2010). Richard Bacon holds a mockup of the original Helmet of Justice.

Richard Bacon invited Dave Berry to don the helmet and take on the role of dungeoneer for a daring quest to reach the fridge.

(He claims it's the original helmet, though it's clearly not.)

Berry made a joke about left and right (in reference to the clip shown earlier) but was guided by Jack Osborne straight into the peril left for him - a cactus.

Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club (2010). Dave Berry has a turn under the helmet.

Overall, an enjoyable, if slightly trivial, return for the Greater Game on ITV.

DownloadWatch Berry's quest (11.9MB)

You Might Also Like...

Cavernwight Cavern

The Cavernwight Chamber from the early series of Knightmare.

This stone cavern was inhabited by creatures that could hunt by smell. Teams had to negotiate this danger to escape.

Giant / Troll Cave

Series 1 Quest 5. Helen is watched by a suspicious Giant as she enters his lair.

A giant and a troll both occupied a large chasm, with a narrow ledge at the side for dungeoneers to pass.

Gibbet

Gibbet, the guard. Played by Alec Westwood.

Gibbet was a sour and vicious guard who watched over the wellway to Level 3 in the first series of Knightmare.

See Also