Series 1
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I only referenced Only Fools and Big Bang as the first examples that came to mind of the cast having to 'find' their characters.
If you take early Del Boy or early Sheldon, its as if David Jason and and Jim Parsons are still becoming their characters, and that took a series or two for it to all fall in to place, and you could name any number of Sitcoms, Drama, or live Theatre.
Knightmare was no different.
But I also understand and agree with the 'difficult second album' perspective.
The difference in quality and performance between series 1 and series 2 was noticeable. This was of course to happen with every series. Knightmare innovated where very few children's shows did.
Knightmare still had to 'find' itself in series one, hence the shorter run and the stories perhaps not being quite as developed as they became, especially during the peak which was probably series 3-6.
Indeed, I actually think that series 7 is somewhat of a step back.
Maybe it's nostalgia as I clearly remember 'where I was' when the first episode aired.
But yes there were kinks to iron out, which comes with pretty much any first series/album/book and there were ideas and improvements that were yet to be developed - The deaths you brought up are an excellent example of this.
But we needed series 1 to be the launch pad for all the other excellent Knightmare that was to come.
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I agree with most of that, although I think you may be putting the cart before the horse when you suggest that Knightmare series one was shorter becuase it was just finding its self. It was shorter because ITV only commissioned 8 episodes not knowing if it would be worth them spending there money on or not or even if it come be executed effectively and consistently afterwards. It clearly could but have only 8 episodes to play with no doubt limited a lot.
As I said I'm not sure I ever saw the first episode of Knightmare of even the first series. I suspect I may have done but think I may have joined it somewhere in the middle. It may also ben that i watched an awful lot of children's TV at the age so it might just have been part of my routine so how I came to watch it doesn't stick in my memory much.
But yes, all series need their first series to lay the ground for and indeed decide if there should be a second.
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I have just finished a run of watching Series 1 again. I will comment on individual episodes where appropriate, but i wanted to share some thoughts on the series as a whole.
It was a good (if shorter) series, and right from the start it was a winner. Most of the classic ingredients are there right away.
Hugo Myatt was brilliant right from day 1. The look of the dungeon was fantastic, proven by the fact that many of the rooms were re-used for the next two series as well. The life-force clock is great.
The characters were varied and interesting.
Lillith was a genuine threat in level 1, Folly was entertaining, Gumboil and Gibbet were menacing and Cedric was brilliantly abusive in level 2. John Woodnut was great as Merlin, tho sadly he was not actually seen as Mogdred in this series, only mentioned in the plot.
I like the wall monsters Granitas & Olgarth and the fact that Treguard couldn't really tell which was which.
Gibbet the surly level 2 guard would have been a good character to retain and as actor Alec Westwood returned for series 2 as Folly, i am surprised that he wasn't given a few scenes as Gibbet as well.
As with any new program, there were some things in the first series that were subsequently improved upon. At times the tempo is a little slow. The intro's are rather too lengthy and the scenes with Olgarth, Granitas & Cedric have too much explanation. The scene with Cedric & Folly in particular, way outstayed it's welcome!
No winning teams (altho one came soooo close) and several of the teams had a tough time of it, but that was always the appeal of Knightmare, that it wasn't easy. In subsequent series, teams seemed to benefit from having a better idea of how the game worked.
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Gibbet the surly level 2 guard would have been a good character to retain and as actor Alec Westwood returned for series 2 as Folly, i am surprised that he wasn't given a few scenes as Gibbet as well.
I had the pleasure of meeting Alec Westwood in person when I interviewed him for my 25th anniversary documentary.
Although this doesn't feature in the documentary itself, one of the questions I asked him was why Gibbet never came back for Series 2. He stated that there were some complaints received about the character, which is why Alec only played Folly during that series. You can read the full transcript of my interview with Alec here.
Hope this helps.
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Thank-you James for your link, that's greatly appreciated. It's always interesting to read a little about the cast of a production.
Another thing that i liked about Knightmare right from the start is how adaptable the cast were, as many of them played two very different roles in a series, in this case Gibbet & Folly. I didn't actually realise that they were both Alec Westwood until i saw the credits.
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