Thinking about it, series 5 was an even braver move than series 4 because of all the changes. It was radically different from what was being done as little as two years previously.

Well, very interesting perspective sir, on the S5 front. S5 was definitely a huge step up on S4 in terms of gameplay, I do believe that. S4 had many revolutionary ideas, such as the inclusion of the eye shield and so much outside footage, but unfortunately to the extent that the gameplay was maimed for it. S5 tidied this up, and yet also added many fundamental extra features - you mentioned the causeways - and there's also the emergence of a certain Smirkenorff.

Yes, the one thing that did impress me about S5 was the surreallistic 'theme' of 'Winteria' - the idea of breaking from the traditional dungeon mould a little bit further. Ok, I think the final challenge of S5 was pathetic, but daring to add a theme was included, in my opinion, in the latter stages of Ben's quest in S6 - an indication of the final showdown as such. Juliet Henry-Massy was fantastic, icy and heroic for her respective roles, and yet the role of Aesandre was very well 'preserved' to hold some unpredictability about the way the series panned out, unlike the sometimes drole repetition seen constantly the previous year.

But I do believe that S5, while not the finished article, had excellent features (Winteria, the causeways, Smirks, Juliet and both her characters) and led the way for the immense S6 and S7, the excellence of which I do think panned from ideas tried in S5.

Its a long time since I saw many of the series but Id like to see series 2 again from memory.

welcome Beef, nice of you to join us

My favourite level 3 would be torn between S3 and 7. The former was undefeated - so it becomes one of the few real strengths of challenge the program had. On saying that, since only one quarter of the teams made it there, the failure rate for the level itself was quite modest, and it gave level 3 that added impetus each time, because it was not explored enough to know immediately what was coming next.

The backdrops for S3 were all fantastic, especially the L3 clue room and Morghanna's ledge. One always knew there'd be some real nastiness at some stage, be it cavernweights, hobgoblins or just the good old opposition showing their evil faces. It defeated 2 outstanding teams who, it could be argued, would have waltzed to victory in other series', especially 4.

However, one slight drawback of S3's level 3, is that both Leo and Martin managed to actually survive the worst of the level, and it was just the rather difficult general knowledge questions that led them to defeat. Mind you, the fact they did survive what was thrown at them was perhaps a testimony to their abilities of the game rather than leniency factor.

S7, and Goth in it's beauty. The whole macabre element to this was absolutely fantastic - the graphics were superb, and the atmosphere, with portcullises and sewers really gave it that rather pulsating edge - rather like the claustrophobic dwarf tunnels. There was only one cutting edge puzzle to this, the 'Play your Cards Right' - but this was long, and difficult, and the right kind of puzzle (that defeated most but was beaten by a rare couple) - but there was always a separate task in Level 3 for the exceptional teams, and what wasn't thrown at Barry's team, I shudder to think. Even corridor of blades made a cameo or two.

Still, this was proof to me that the development of KM could still capture that magic somewhere along the line that made the likes of S3 so special, and it built on the mass improvements that S6 held over the previous two year counterparts.

Hodriss was never on the 'evil' side was he?

He did appear to be on the evil side during todays episode though

Just looking out for number 1. but soon changed once Lord fear made his welcome

Treguard and Merlin are on top form, and Hordriss is fantastic as an evil nasty person  

i'll have to do some digging on this site.

But season 4 has the worse level 3 ever.

Its was to easy.. In fact the last team of season 4 had the best level 3 from what we saw.. they got 3 rarther nasty rooms.. that needed good direction and skill.. where as they wining team got the crow handed to them on a plate.  But i liked the look of season 3 L3

At least it was bigger and had more challenges.

But like i said i can't really remember.

Since there was no winning team in series 1 or 3 we don't have a complete picture of what their respective Level Threes were like. Series 2 had a good Level Three, imo, but the teams and quests that saw all of it (both winning teams) would have influenced that by how they chose to play/organise the game. However, I think that series 1 and 3 would have been similarly excellent to series 2 if they had winning teams.

A thought that occurs is that any team in series 1 that would have won would have encountered Mogdred. Since this would have been Mogdred's debut, that would have added an enormous amount of weight to the proceedings. So, if series 1 would have had a winning team, I think its Level Three would have been the best.

I like the Level Three in series 4 because of the final conflicts involved (which I think were the best out of all the series). It is a fairly small level, though. If it had series 3's scale (or impression of scale) it would have been virtually perfect.

Series 6's Level Three is excellent, imo, because of a very good final conflict (in the sole winning quest) and the Great Causeway, which had some excellent incidental music.

So, I don't think I can fairly nominate a favourite Level Three because they were always partially reliant on the teams that played in them. Opportunities to see quests completed in series 1 and 3 unfortunately did not come to fruition 'coz the teams messed up!  

i prefered it to the sewers section too.

I think I'll have to go with Series 7's black tower of  Goth. As well as having some great rooms like the Corridor of Blades and Play Your Cards Right, it also looked nice!

(Then again, there are some series I've yet to see.)