Knightmare facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Knightmare
Created by	Tim Child
Starring	See below
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	8
No. of episodes	112
Production
Running time	25 minutes
Production company(s)	Anglia Television
Distributor	ITV Studios
Release
Original network	CITV block of ITV
Picture format	4:3
Original release	7 September 1987 (1987-09-07) – 11 November 1994 (1994-11-11)

Knightmare was a British children's adventure game show. It was created by Tim Child. The show was on CITV from September 7, 1987, to November 11, 1994.

The show's main idea was simple. A team of four children worked together. One child, called the "Dungeoneer," played the game. The other three children were their guides and helpers. Their goal was to finish a quest in a fantasy world. They had to travel through a big dungeon. They used their brains to solve puzzles and get past tricky obstacles. They also met many unusual characters along the way.

Knightmare was special for a few reasons. It used a cool trick called blue screen. This idea came from how weather forecasts were made back then. The show also used "virtual reality" style gameplay on TV. It was known for being very hard! Many people watched it when it first aired. It became a cult classic, meaning many fans still love it today. In August 2013, YouTube brought it back for a special episode.

How the Game Works

One of the dungeon's many rooms

Each game of Knightmare had a team of four children. They were usually between 11 and 16 years old. The game always followed the same rules.

One team member was the "Dungeoneer." This person went into the game world. But they couldn't see anything around them! They wore a special helmet called the "Helmet of Justice." This helmet only let them see their own feet. The other three team members were the "advisers." They stayed in a different room. They guided the Dungeoneer. They told them what to do to solve puzzles. They also wrote down important clues.

When the Dungeoneer was ready, their quest began. The game world was shown using a blue screen studio. This made it look like a fantasy dungeon. The dungeon was made with both computer graphics and hand-drawn art. Only the viewers and the advisers could see this world. Sometimes, parts of the game were filmed in real places. These scenes were shown as if the Dungeoneer was seeing them.

The advisers helped the Dungeoneer by describing what was happening. It was like playing an old computer game where you read descriptions. For example, if a room had a key, the advisers would say, "You see a key on the table." Then they would tell the Dungeoneer to move towards it, pick it up, and use it on a locked door.

Completing the Quest

The team's goal was to finish three levels of a special dungeon. Each team faced a new dungeon design. But some features were similar in every series. Each level had many rooms. Some rooms had puzzles, obstacles, or challenges to solve. There were also different characters living in the dungeon. Some characters would help the team. Others would try to stop them. Sometimes, characters needed something from the Dungeoneer to let them pass.

Every dungeon had objects. Some objects helped solve puzzles or get past characters. Others were just fake items. There were also magic spells. A spell was a single word that could solve puzzles or get rid of dangers. An adviser had to spell out the word correctly. For example, if the spell was "Light," the adviser would say "L-I-G-H-T."

Life Force and Time Limits

Teams had a time limit to finish their game. This was shown by a "life force meter" on the screen. The meter slowly went down over time. Only the viewers could see it. But the advisers got hints when the Dungeoneer's life force was low.

To get more time, the Dungeoneer had to reach checkpoints. At these spots, they would find food. Picking up food and putting it in their knapsack would fill up the life force meter. If the team made mistakes, the Dungeoneer could get "damage." This would make the life force go down faster.

The game ended if the Dungeoneer ran out of life force. It also ended if the team made a bad choice. This could be taking a wrong path to a dead end. Or if the Dungeoneer was "killed" by an enemy or a trap.

The life force meter looked different over the years:

• In the first five series, it showed an adventurer's helmet. As life force dropped, pieces of the helmet disappeared. Then the skin, and finally the skull. The background changed color too: green (healthy), amber (medium), and red (low).
• In series six and seven, it showed a walking knight. Its armor fell off to show a skeleton, which then crumbled.
• In the last series, it was a picture of a pie. Each slice slowly disappeared.

If a team finished all three levels, they won a prize! Knightmare was a very hard show. Only eight teams won the game in all eight series. After a team played, they left the show. A new team would then take their place. This continued until the last episode of a series. In the final episode, the last team often faced a challenge they couldn't win. This was to end the series.

Each episode was about 25 minutes long. If a team's game lasted longer than one episode, the show would pause. It would then start again at the beginning of the next episode. This was called "temporal disruption."

Characters

The main character was Treguard, or Treguard of Dunshelm. He was the dungeon master. Hugo Myatt played him in all eight series. Treguard's job was to help the Dungeoneer and their team. He also explained how a team lost the game.

At first, Treguard was on his own. But from Series 4, he had helpers. First, there was Pickle the elf, played by David Learner. Then, from Series 7, Majida joined. She was a princess and a genie from Arabia, played by Jackie Sawiris.

In the early series, Treguard was neutral. He didn't pick sides. But from Series 5, things changed. Characters were split into "The Powers that Be" (good) and "The Opposition" (bad). Treguard then became more helpful to the Dungeoneers.

Treguard became famous for his catchphrase: "Ooh, nasty!" He often said this when a team lost. He first said it by accident, and it stuck!

In the early series, Knightmare didn't have one main villain. The closest was Mogdred, played by John Woodnutt. His job was to scare players into making mistakes. But he did cause two Dungeoneers to lose.

In Series 5 (1991), a big change happened. Lord Fear became the main bad guy. He was played by Mark Knight. By this time, Treguard was clearly on the side of good.

When it Aired

Repeats

After Knightmare finished on ITV, it was shown again on The Sci-Fi Channel in November 1995. But not many people watched it there.

In 2001, Knightmare was featured in Channel 4's "100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows." It came in 16th place, which was the highest for a game show!

In December 2002, the UK channel Challenge showed classic game shows. Knightmare was one of them. It started with Series 3, Episode 1. Viewers voted Knightmare as the best show in this group!

Because it was so popular, Challenge bought the rights to show the other series. All episodes were shown by July 8, 2004. Knightmare stayed on Challenge until March 31, 2007.

On January 5 and 6, 2013, the last two episodes from Series 7 were shown again. This was on the CITV channel as part of its 'Old Skool Weekend'. This weekend celebrated 30 years of ITV's children's shows. Knightmare was the second most-watched show that weekend!

On April 22, 2013, Challenge announced they would show the first two series again. They started airing on May 10, 2013. Later, on June 29, 2015, Challenge also got the rights to Series 3 and 4. These started airing on October 25, 2015.

Cast