Events in 2014

January

Knightmare Series 1 and 2 will be shown on Challenge TV on Saturdays, two episodes at a time.

Starting with the first two episodes of Series 1 this Saturday (January 11th 2014) from 11:00am-12:00pm, Challenge plans to show two episodes of Series 1 every Saturday for the rest of January and into February, followed by Series 2 in the same fashion from February-March.

We've worked out the following schedule (though all must surely be an illusion, or subject to change at any rate):

• January 25th 2014: Series 1 episodes 5-6 (first "Ooh nasty", first Welsh team)
• January 11th 2014: Series 1 episodes 1-2
• January 18th 2014: Series 1 episodes 3-4 (first quest spell, first glimpse of Level 2; first instruction to sidestep)
• February 1st 2014: Series 1 episodes 7-8 (first glimpse of Level 3)
• February 8th 2014: Series 2 episodes 1-2
• February 15th 2014: Series 2 episodes 3-4
• February 22nd 2014: Series 2 episodes 5-6 (first win; "Play a while, play forever")
• March 1st 2014: Series 2 episodes 7-8 ("Poor old Akash"; "Letter O")
• March 8th 2014: Series 2 episodes 9-10
• March 15th 2014: Series 2 episodes 11-12
• March 22nd 2014: Series 2 episodes 13-14 (second win)
• March 29th 2015: Series 2 episodes 15-16 (first Scottish team)

We hope that plenty of you will relish these opportunities to see Knightmare's formative series and all their classic moments, regardless of whether you saw them last in 1988 or 2013. When it comes to Life Force, the weekend need not mean weakened.

Knightmare's eventful 2013 earned it a mention in UKGameshows' Poll of the Year. Results have just been published for the ninth annual poll run by UKGameshows.com and Bother's Bar. As well as voting for the best and worst new formats and overall favourite gameshow of 2013, readers were asked for any "magic moments" they enjoyed in the past 12 months.

Knightmare was among the shows suggested in the latter category, after a high-profile year that included repeats on Challenge, a new episode for Geek Week and a successful live show. The poll results and comments can be read in full here.

Knightmare has its own page on UKGameshows.com, and has previously been discussed in the Weaver's Week column.

Bother's Bar reviewed the Knightmare VR pilot in 2004, and interviewed Knightmare creator Tim Child in 2007.

February

Following its success in 2013, Knightmare Live is about to embark on its second year of shows. Without further ado, here are the dates and locations confirmed so far:

The Civic, Stourport, Thursday 27th February 2014, 7:30pm

The Lowry, Salford, Wednesday 4th June 2014, 8:00pm

Udderbelly, Southbank, London, Friday 6th June 2014, 9:00pm. Advisors: Stu Heritage and Robyn Wilder

Corn Exchange, Newbury, Saturday 7th June 2014, 7:45pm

Udderbelly, Southbank, London, Friday 13th June 2014, 9:00pm. Advisors: Isy Suttie and Tom Craine

Theatre Royal, Margate, Saturday 14th June 2014, 7:30pm

Udderbelly, Southbank, London, Friday 20th June 2014, 9:00pm. Advisors: Gemma Whelan and Grainne Maguire

Assembly Rooms, Derby, Saturday 21st June 2014, 7:30pm. A homecoming for Tom Bell (Lord Fear)

Stables MK, Milton Keynes, Sunday 22nd June 2014, 8:00pm

March

It was months in the planning, but we are pleased to report that we ran a Knightmare Convention in the very studios where Knightmare was filmed. The convention ran from Friday 9th May (with Knightmare Live) until Sunday 11th May.

The full event not only had Q&A sessions with the cast and crew of Knightmare, but we also gave attendees the chance to play a room of the dungeon, using the same chromakey technology that was used to bring you Knightmare.

On top of that, we had autographs and photographs with the cast, stalls, merchandise, and a showing of both the extended Geek Week episode and also Lords of the Game - the US pilot episode of Knightmare. Our after-dark entertainment on Saturday 10th included a chat show and an outdoor treasure hunt, both starring Lord Fear himself.

Our sincere thanks to everyone who supported the Knightmare Convention: the contributors to our crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, the guests, the crew, our hosts at EPIC Studios in Norwich and all the fans who attended with a passion for Knightmare and a sense of adventure. To find out more about what happened and what people thought of the experience, do take a look at the Knightmare Convention board on our forum.

Another chance to play 'spot the Knightmare actor' on TV this week. Tom Karol, who played Olaf the Viking in Series 2-3 of Knightmare and Mrs. Grimwold and the talking bird in Series 3, appears in an episode of New Tricks that is being repeated on Drama (Freeview 20, Sky 166, Virgin 190) from 9:00-10:20pm on 20th March 2014 and 7:40-9:00pm on 21st March 2014. His appearance is towards the very end of the episode.

Knightmare actor David Verrey (McGrew, Golgarch) played a guest role in BBC One's new Sunday night drama, The Musketeers. The first episode aired on 19th January 2014.

David Verrey's character, Raul Mendoza, appears in scenes with d'Artagnan at the 16 and 22 minute marks.

April

Two new screenings have been announced for the award-winning fantasy film Lovelorn, featuring Knightmare actor Edmund Dehn.

Set between the parallel worlds of contemporary London, the deserted afterlife and a mysterious dreamscape, Lovelorn is a story of lost souls trying to save each other. John has always been over protective of his younger sister Lorna, so when a motorcycle accident leaves her in a coma, he makes a promise to bring her back at whatever the cost.

Edmund Dehn won Best Supporting Actor at the 2009 LA Reel Film Festival for his role as Charon, based on the ferryman from Greek mythology.

A trailer for Lovelorn (including a Knightmare-esque "Where am I?") can be viewed below, with more information on the official website and Facebook page.

There will be two 7pm screenings of the film (rated 18+) at The Hen & Chickens Theatre on London's Highbury Corner, on Saturday 12th and Thursday 24th April. Tickets are available from TicketWeb.

Alternatively, the film can be downloaded from iTunes for £7.99, and is also available on Region 1 DVD.

David Rowe gave a talk at Aberystwyth University in Wales on 2nd April. The talk covered his work as an illustrator on Knightmare and the successful Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund his Art of Knightmare book. A photo of David's talk was tweeted by Huw Marshall and can be seen on Twitter here.

You can follow progress on The Art of Knightmare in David Rowe's blog and view his Knightmare artwork for the TV series and books alike, not to mention other projects, on his website. David is scheduled to be a guest at the Knightmare Convention in May 2014.

May

Fans of Knightmare will be aware that Cliff Barry (Lissard; Brother Strange; Raptor) was featured in the Edinburgh Fringe last year, with his show "You All Know Me, I'm Jack Ruby!"

Cliff has been given the opportunity to perform his show on 42nd Street in New York as part of the United Solo Festival, but needs your help to get there.

To this end, Cliff has started a Kickstarter Campaign to raise money to get his show to New York. Perks are being offered for donations.

Please stop by and help out by pledging your support!

PC Gaming journo and general interesting natterer Richard Cobbett (whom longstanding lurkers may remember talking toot about Knightmare with the chaps at The Eclectic Podcast) has written an article dissecting several tie-ins surrounding KM, specifically the 1987 and 1991 games released for the ZX Spectrum/Commodore 64 and Amiga/ST respectively.

Whilst scathing in places, it is a fair (if decidedly snarky) assessment of their respective merits.

It also contained a nice plug for the Knightmare Convention, which is fine and dandy in anyone's book I think we can agree.

June

Knightmare actor Clifford Barry appears in Law & Order: UK in June 2014. Cliff, who played Lissard, Raptor and Brother Strange in the last two series of Knightmare, has a guest role in the final episode of the legal drama's eighth series. Entitled 'Repeat To Fade', it will air on ITV at 9pm on Wednesday 11th June (postponed from 30th April). Look out for him as the character Albert Carlow.

Cliff's other TV credits include The Bill, Jonathan Creek, Casualty, Doctors, EastEnders and Coronation Street.

July

The iPad and Mac version of "David Rowe's Art of Knightmare" was passed for publication first time! The publication date is the 8th. August 2014 and it will be available in 51 iTunes stores worldwide.

If you pledged for an electronic copy of the book, please get in touch with David (http://www.davidrowe.net) in order to receive a download code.

The ePub and print versions of the book will be done in due course.

Buy the Art of Knightmare.

October

The new CITV Old Skool channel on YouTube has clips of Knightmare Series 3 to 8. Following the success of the CITV Old Skool Weekend in January 2013 (including two episodes of Knightmare), an official CITV Old Skool YouTube channel was set up in February 2014 and has lately been filling up with children's TV clips. These include Super Gran, Press Gang, Catweazle, Stingray... and dozens from throughout Series 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Knightmare (1989-1994). Thank you to Canadanne for first reporting this news on the Knightmare.com forum.

Alongside all that, Knightmare Series 2 (1988) repeats resume on Challenge TV on Saturdays (11am) and Sundays (10:30am). Watch now, you armchair adventurers...

Knightmare Live: Level 2 - Coming (very) soon to a town near you.

The dates for Knightmare Live: Level 2's tour of the UK are rapidly approaching and tickets are fast selling out. For those of you that haven't seen last year's Knightmare Live, you are missing out!  But there's still time to fix the situation by buying a ticket.  Knightmare Live is a live-action stageshow reincarnation of the fantastic Children's TV show.  Filled with original puzzles, sidesteps to the left, and a number of props from the original show, watch as two guest comedians guide the show's volunteer dungeoneer through the dungeon to retrieve one of Lord Fear's quest objects.

For those of you that were lucky enough to see the show last year, Level 2 provides an entirely new dungeon with entirely new puzzles and story.  And puppets.  And Dragons.

Kettering - 16 October 2014

Brighton - 18 October 2014

Peterborough - 24 October 2014

Salford - 28 October 2014

Norwich - 30 October 2014

Guildford - 31 October 2014

Winchester - 1 November 2014

London Lyric Theatre - 3 November 2014

You can buy your tickets from the Knightmare Live website.

Knightmare's theme tune (original version) was heard on the Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Absolute Radio on Friday 17th October, followed by a brief description of how Knightmare worked.

This was done to introduce Project Floor, a new game in which two callers alternately direct co-presenter Richie, clad in a "Wickes safety helmet", one square at a time across a grid consisting of different types of flooring so as to win DIY prizes while avoiding holes. This was then available in the Christian O'Connell Daily Choice Cuts podcast. Thank you to Canadanne of the Knightmare.com Forum for reporting this.

Another breakfast show DJ with an appreciation of Knightmare is Capital FM's Dave Berry, who brought Knightmare to Richard Bacon's Beer and Pizza Club on ITV4 in 2010. Tommy Boyd, who introduced Knightmare Series 5 and 6 in the 1990s as the main presenter on CITV, has also talked about Knightmare on his radio shows. Iain Lee is a fan too and was interviewed about Knightmare for Channel's 4 countdown of the 100 greatest kids' TV programmes (Knightmare came 16th) in 2001.

The Knightmare theme tune, which was composed by Ed Welch (Catchphrase, Blockbusters), also cropped up just over a year ago on BBC One's I Love My Country.

Radio Times is running Kids TV Champ on their website (bring your own apostrophe), where you can vote for your favourite children's television programme of all time. It's Round 1 of the knock-out contest this week, with 128 shows paired off.

Knightmare is there. It's up against the Teletubbies. At the time of writing, Knightmare is trailing by nearly 25%.

You'll want that link now.

Voting closes at the end of Friday lunch hour. Please spread the word on social media too, so that Tinky Winky and co don't blight what has been a fantastic couple of years for Knightmare and its fans.

Update, 24 October 2014: Knightmare is through to Round 2, where it's up against Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Please keep voting and promoting and help Treguard put the chipmunks and their inferior facial hair firmly in their place. Voting for Round 2 closes on Monday 27th at 2pm.

Update, 27 October 2014:Knightmare is through to Round 3, where it's facing DuckTales. Please keep voting and promoting and help the Dungeon take the ducks down. Voting for Round 3 closes on Wednesday 29th at 2pm.

Update, 4th November 2014: Thanks to your support, Knightmare is through to the semi-finals. It's up against Sooty, whose fans are proving very determined (did someone say 'multiple voting'?) and aren't letting Knightmare claim a big lead. Your votes, between now and 2pm on Wednesday 5th, are more crucial than ever.

Update, 6th November 2014: This is it. The final. Knightmare versus SM:tv Live. Voting is due to close at 2pm tomorrow.

November

Before Knightmare, John Woodnutt was in Doctor Who. The Freeview channel Drama, as part of its welcome Sunday afternoon repeats of classic Doctor Who, will be showing Third Doctor adventure Spearhead From Space this weekend (November 16th) at 4pm.

Watch it and you'll get to see the late John Woodnutt playing Hibbert, over a decade before he appeared in Knightmare as Merlin and Mogdred.

You might also be interested in links between Knightmare and Doctor Who, which we wrote last year.

Jonathan Green's well-acclaimed tome on the history of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks also features a piece on Knightmare.

The article on Knightmare features in page 242 of the book where it gives a brief description on the concept of the show, and also focuses on the gamebooks written by Dave Morris.

"You Are The Hero - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks" is available to order online via Amazon.

Joanne Heywood (Stiletta) stars in the Sleeping Beauty pantomime in Cheltenham this year. The show runs from Friday 28th November to Sunday 11th January at the Everyman Theatre.

Joanne has been a pantomime regular for many years, often playing the bad fairy or wicked witch. This latest production is no exception as she takes on the role of Hysteria.

Although her character in Knightmare Series 8 was a thorn in the Opposition's side, and she was Principal Boy in a number of earlier pantomimes, she discusses her preference for playing villains nowadays!

Joanne's acting work in 2014 has included her first short film 'Gone', some new adverts, a third appearance in Emmerdale, and the play 'One For The Road' at the Esk Valley Theatre.