The Crystal Maze was a British game show, produced by Chatsworth Television and shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom between 15 February 1990 and 10 August 1995. There was one series per year, with the first four series presented by Richard O’Brien and the final two by Ed Tudor-Pole. Each show was one hour long, including adverts.
The show was originally intended to be a British remake of the French programme Fort Boyard, devised by Jacques Antoine. However, the unavailability of the French show’s set led British producer Malcolm Heyworth to reinvent the show, using themed zones as a means to keep the show visually fresh.
The series is set in “The Crystal Maze”, which features four different “zones” set in various periods of time and space. A team of six contestants take part in a series of challenges in order to win “time crystals”. Each crystal gives the team five seconds of time inside “The Crystal Dome”, the centrepiece of the maze where the contestants take part in their final challenge.
The maze cost £250,000 to build and was the size of two football pitches. At its height the show was the most watched on Channel 4, regularly attracting between 4 and 6 million viewers. In 2006 and again in 2010, the show was voted “greatest UK game show of all time” by readers of UKGameshows.com. This site describes the programme as “a highly-ambitious, high-risk show that paid off handsomely.”
All Episodes
You May Also Like
Three hard-core crews of gold prospectors take the gamble of a lifetime and battle to strike it big, deep in the wild west of outback Australia. The soaring highs and the crushing lows of the gold season are revealed as the crews pursue their all-important targets – braving brutal heat, punishing conditions, mechanical breakdowns and constant pressure.
Seven chefs from across America face each other in culinary battles each week until only one is left standing. This chef will battle the three iron chefs: Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto and Michael Symon.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked!” is the access-all-areas pass to the drama that you didn’t see on the runway–the backstage bitchiness, the catfights, the struggles, the tears and the secrets. See what happens behind the scenes when the queens let their tucks breathe… and let their emotions flow. Will the drag queens crack under the pressure of competing to become America’s next drag superstar? RuPaul narrates us through the behind the scenes world of what happens when a gaggle of queens are up against each other… and themselves.
Chef Ramsay attempts to do the impossible: turn one ordinary and empty restaurant into the most popular, sought-after venue in town. There’s no time for polite small talk as he embarks on his mission to turn around the fortunes of each restaurant in just one week and save them from their living nightmares.
Set in the glittering, class-conscious city of London, this docu-series follows a group of elite British socialites and American expats who run in similar social circles, but are worlds apart. From weekend getaways in the English countryside, to high tea at one of London’s exclusive polo-clubs, both groups adhere to London’s strict unwritten rules of engagement where reputation is everything. Although they lead lives of unimaginable wealth, in London’s high society, fortune has less influence than bloodlines and respect is not easily earned.
Kylie Jenner welcomes viewers to her unfiltered world of fame, fortune, relationships and empire.