I was actually thinking about something similar a few days ago. I was mulling over who could have played some characters from the Knightmare books.

I felt the baddie from the very first book, the Gruagach, would have been a fine addition to the show. I recall he was described as having sharp features, so I reckon Lawrence Werber would have been a good fit. He could have used the drawling voice he used for the Dragon, but with a hint of Cedric thrown in.

I've always thought that the evil elf king, Arawn, would have been an excellent alternative villain. Given that the second book coincided with series three, I initially thought of Tom Karol. However, I think Paul Valentine would have been perfect in the role . Plus, it would have been interesting to see Paul play a straight baddie.

I can't recall any mistakes off the top of my head, but, I also haven't watched that particular quest for a while, so they could well have made a few blunders. However, I do remember them being quite argumentative with each other, which I suppose is one big mistake in itself.

I don't believe that a cast member would have had the authority to make such a decision.

That said, I've always found that particular death somewhat odd. The team don't seem to be unnecessarily cautious.

The funny thing about that particular team, was that the girl in the middle was authorative to the point of rudeness, and quite frequently made snide comments to the lad on her left, or just ignored him full stop. Ironically enough, during the fateful scene with Elita, he firmly insisted that they shouldn't give the Elven cowslip the ruby, whilst his bossy friend was adamant that they should. Perhaps she did the right thing to disregard her chum throughout the quest!

Yep, I also think Anthony Donovan was playing his character in a way which made you think he was a falsehood away from insanity. I don't think his vacant manner was to do with a lack of improvisational skill.

I've done a bit of thinking about the "worst" improvisors, and all I can think of are the two warden girls, Jacqueline Joyce and Juliet Henry-Massy. Not to say that they were bad, I would have thought good improvisational skills were a must for anyone trying to get a job on a show like Knightmare, I just think they could appear a bit discombobulated when confronted with a tricky dungeoneer.

On a more positive note, I can recall some good impros from the years. A good one was in series four when, I think it was Dickon's quest, when Hordriss was in the room, and the advisers were mumbling about a "give the dog a bone" clue, and Hordriss was none too impressed. "You call me a DOG!" Another good one was in series 2, when Gretel asked a dungeoneer whether he thought she was beautiful. The dungeoneer honestly replied that he could see to offer an honest opinion, due to the fact he was blinded by the Helmet of Justice. Gretel's response was brilliant; "You should know from the sound of my voice that i'm pretty!" That, and the cute little foot-stomp that accompanied it were very quick off the mark, in my opinion.

Stephanie Hesp was very good at improvising, especially when playing Elita. I think that team she indirectly "killed" (by taking their gem and not giving any help in return) was basically the result of her thinking on her feet when they took far too long to decide.

I've often wondered about that. Was it an "on the spot" decision from Ms. Hesp, or was it a result of Tim Child hissing into her earpiece, as he marked the dithering dimwits' quest as "losing"? I'd love to believe it was the former, but I wouldn't have thought a cast member could make a decision.

Back to topic, I agree that Michael Cule was one of the best. I also think Hugo Myatt could improvise with the best of them, it must have been tricky at times coming up with responses to some of the more curious witterings of the teams that played the game. Can't really think of anyone who sticks out as being the worst improviser, i'll come back to that one!

RE: Erin Geraghty

Hooray, this long-standing error (Erin Geraghty = Mistress Goody) has at last been corrected in the Series 4 section of the website! Top marks to whoever did that, it's needed doing for yonks!

Sorry to divert this slightly, but where in God's name did that ridiculous "fact" that Erin Geraghty played the Ogre come from? Surely it is obvious that the Ogre is portrayed by a man, and Erin is a female name!

I think I'm guilty of fixing this. Thanks all the same EDIT: I was mistaken, here. It is the venerable Drassil, and I leave my mistake visible as a token of embarrassment. There were lots of small corrections to be made. There's no saying that this wasn't an innocent mistake here (though certainly Bryan McNerney and Erin Geraghty's roles have always been poorly and underwhelmingly credited). Another addition to the list of Erin's credentials is at CastingCallPro.

Yes, there have been a handful of obvious errors (I'm keeping a list of the best ones ) that have gone either unspotted or uncorrected. I think it's only when you undertake the task of checking and editing all the pages that many of these really come to light. Does anyone think Mistress Goody / GoodyBadWife needs a better character description? I've been doing some updating for Series 8 [PTB / Opposition], because I don't think the 'As before' strategy gives enough credit to the prominence of particular characters in any given series. The excellent Stiletta did not have one at all, which is Knightmare sacrilege.

RE: Hugo

By the way, I've finally found Hugo's online CV and casting call ... I'm pretty sure this is a mistake but it says in his Acting Credits that he's provided the voice for Treguard in a 2009 animation for Televirtual.

Could this be what Tim Child has been stirring since 2008 ? I know that it's more than likely a typing error and they've mistaken it for KMVR in 2005, but it's these little things that keep us fans going, isn't it ?

Wow! Excellent spot, BBrooks! Alas, I'm sceptical about news as well, for two reasons. One, the 2004 pilot is not mentioned in itself. Had it been listed, this would have clearly shown something beyond that. As it is, unless the involvement has been 5 years plus [possible, but unlikely], this seems likely to be a mistake. Secondly, and why I think it is in error: the dates given for Knightmare are not convincing. It states 1995, for 8 years, which hardly places a great emphasis on accuracy. But I do take the point about news like this raising the blood-pressure a little, and appreciating the need for that!

Absolutlely agree. I mean, Mistress Goody did have some spoken lines, and Grimwold had a "kill" to his name, one more than his lovely wife.

Sorry to divert this slightly, but where in God's name did that ridiculous "fact" that Erin Geraghty played the Ogre come from? Surely it is obvious that the Ogre is portrayed by a man, and Erin is a female name!

Whatever next, people suggesting that Michael Cule returned in Series 8 as Stilletta, whilst Bryan McNerney went on to play Gwendoline and Sidriss?!

I've just re-watched this quest, for me, Martin was the most entertaining dungeoneer for the first six series' . In addition to the aforementioned quirks, his sheer impatience made him captivating, especially the tutting and sarcastic remarks. It was refreshing to see a dungeoneer take the lead as he did, and stop his advisors from dithering, which made for a real quick-fire quest. Don't get me wrong, though, if I were one of his advisors, i'd be tempted to walk him off a cliff.

I pretty much agree with all that, B. I didn't include the, for want of a better word, presenters in the list, as I was looking at the guys who played more than one part. But, all three were excellent, especially Hugo. Let's face it, not many people could get the fluffy little Cavernwights over as highly dangerous, bloodsucking demons, but thanks to Mr Myatt's reactions, they are still frightening today.

Mark Knight was, and most probably still is, a highly versatile actor, who brought to life some fantastic characters, most famously Lord Fear. Although, I think the reason there was a greater understanding of his Fearship over Mogdred is that Lord Fear was firmly introduced as THE main bad guy, and the quests revolved around defeating him and his forces. Whereas in the earlier series' defeating the dungeon was the main goal, and Mogdred was just a very dangerous character who would pop up from time to time. I agree with your sentiments about John Woodnutt, he had a brilliant presence and gravitas about him.

As the title suggests, i'm curious to see which portrayal from some Knightmare thespians we all enjoyed. Here are some of mine:

Mark Knight - Lord Fear (although an honourary mention goes to Rothberry, whom I thought was brilliant)

Paul Valentine - Sylvester Hands

Cliff Barry - Brother Strange

Iona Kennedy - Greystagg

Tom Karol - Bumptious (another honourable mention for Mrs Grimwold)

Natasha Pope - Morghanna

Samantha Perkins - Gundrada

John Woodnutt - Mogdred

A quick note about the last one, both of John's characters were excellent, and both played to perfection by the late, great man. However, for me, Mogdred was consistently the better character over the four series' he appeared in, whereas, by the fourth series, Merlin became rather boring what with alternating between a wizard in distress and a medieval "Del Boy".

Another interesting stat, which I've drawn attention to a couple of times before, is that no all-female team even got to Level Three until late in season six. Hard to say what it is, but dungeoneering seems to be a sport that the ladies simply aren't quite as good at. It'd be interesting to speculate why. Maybe a lack of leadership? Or maybe they just don't take it as seriously as the boys?

I think its more a case of the latter. Without wishing to generalise, I think the dungeon was a bigger deal to boys than girls, especially winning the game. Plus, again I don't mean to generalise, the show seemed to be a lot more popular amongst boys. I can only speak from personal experience, but, Knightmare was a regular topic amongst us lads in the playground, whilst the girls looked at us as though we had two heads.

However, I will say this, after trawling through every single episode of Knightmare recently, I reckon Julie's team was the smoothest and most competent all-round team to participate in the show. They seemed to have an inate knack of doing the right thing at precisely the right time.

In fact, other than a winning team in Series Two and Julie's all-female team, I don't think there was any other team with ANY female members who tasted victory. Although, as Mystara says, there were many more all-male teams. Like the males, you had some excellent girls taking part, and some considerably less.

Actually, i've just thought of something. Two of the most infamous teams in Knightmare history comprised of a male dungeoneer and three female advisers. You had Richard in Series Eight, and his advisers who suffered an early demise, thanks to being unable to understand a scroll's, and Treguard's, instructions, and the legendary Akash and his bunch!

Good thread this. I would have had Elshander as a neutral character in there. Out of the bad guys, I would agree with those who put Arawn in their lists, I especially agree with Drassil's suggestion that the dungeoneer would endure a battle of wits with the evil elf king. Also, how about the satanic, Keith Richards inspired Seigneur des Mouches? He would be certainly be an interesting final foe to encounter!

Hmmm, that's a tough one. With Knightmare, it was always a case of "so many of the little things". A question i've recently begun to ponder is, is it more enjoyable to watch a talented team intelligently and logically sweeping through the dungeon, or is it more entertaining to watch four bunglers lolloping towards a hopefully entertaining death? We all know what makes the latter; advisors hollering over each other, dungeoneers relying on advisors for answers to the simplest of questions or both advisors and dungeoneer repeatedly failing to differentiate between left and right. I think i'll go with the former, as it was much less common. One of the things that makes Series Seven stick out, is that the final two quests of the series were possibly the greatest of the whole eight series'.

A perfect episode of Knightmare would, for me, contain a useful team. Advisors would allocate their respective roles amongst themselves beforehand, and would rarely deviate from them. The dungeoneer would be sharp enough to answer some riddles, have good footwork and, most importantly, be able to "roleplay" and really be able to enter the spirit of the game. The challenges would be tough and thought-provoking, but always fair and set up to favour the talented. Oh, and the characters would come from my "Dungeon Dream Team" thread. I would have a few scenarios, such as Lord Fear bickering with Mogdred in a spyglass scene, and the dungeoneer would come up trumps in a life or death sequence with Grimaldine, who would be a neutral in every sense of the word. That's another thing I would add, clearly defined heroes and villains, and highly dangerous, yet potentially critically important, neutrals. None of this "I am sort of neutral, but I hate Lord Fear, so i'll help you anyway" nonsense.

Thirdly, the length of this quest was increased to a great extent by Barry himself mouthing off so much. A lot of the scenes were supposedly more difficult for the cast than for the team, because it was tricky for them to try and 'ad-lib' proceedings in the direction that plot was meant to go in. (See how irritated Iona Kennedy was getting while rowing Barry through the sewers.)

Yeah, dunno about 'Queen of the Witches', she was more like 'Queen of the Bitches' in this episode.

"Stop your wittering!" or something to that effect... though I thought the actors ad-libbed very well in general for this quest, certainly ended the series earning their crust. Oh, and I, like many in this thread, swear Barry was decapitated at the Blades, but he was such good entertainment we'll let that one slide.

Good series finale, things certainly picked up from the earlier episodes.

The Barry/Greystagg exchange was one of my favourite moments in the entire series. I remember it well.

Barry (entering boat): It's a very nice boat.

Derek: Is it now?

Barry: Yes, it's lovely.

Greystagg: Stop your wittering, or i'll dismiss you!

Barry: I beg your pardon.

Barry reminded me of Sergeant Wilson from Dad's Army during that little exchange. To be fair, I think the actors probably enjoyed participating in a quest where they didn't have to "lead" the dungeoneer. It was something different to the norm, and any actor worth his or her salt would have enjoyed the extra challenge of having to think on their feet. It was a pity Brother Mace was no longer part of the dungeon, it would have been great to see Michael Cule matching Barry in a good bit of banter.

Thanks for the welcome, chaps. I've found myself become quite glued to this place, its facsinating trawling through some of the threads and especially reading up on what the actors involved in Knightmare are doing now.

Actually, upon reflection, and a quick re-watch of series seven, maybe the Brollichan did get a little boring after a while. So, maybe we could drop him. However, we'll keep Anthony Donovan employed and put Grimaldine in there. The man of the green was quite a good character on reflection, and played in a way that hinted at a kind of thinly-veiled insanity. Perhaps we could sort of merge his story with the Brollichan's, in that Lord Fear transported Grimaldine into the dungeon as a potential dragon killer. But, Grimaldine would not pledge allegiance to the Opposition, but remain a very dangerous and magically talented neutral character.

I would certainly be interested in purchasing Knightmare, were it to be released on DVD. I shall be encouraging as many people as possible to express their interest.

I see what you mean about the Brollachan. Perhaps there could be a greater emphasis on sheer lying ability, and the dungeoneer's ability to sound convincing. So if someone stuttered or giggled their way through their sentence, the Brollachan could pounce. I think it would be a more unique challenge than wall monster or, God forbid, door monster riddles.

Actually there's a thought. The Brollachan would exist on level three, whilst level one could be the occassional home of Granitas of legend.

Hi everyone. I have just stumbled across this site, and look forward to some good conversation regarding one of the greatest shows of all time.

I picked the name Bumptious, as I am a Northern lad and am fairly short in stature, yet far too tall to pass as an effective dwarf!