TV classics - The Crystal Maze

IN A new feature, it is time to take a dip back into looking through the classics of yesteryear on television.  It begins with the fantastic gameshow concept Channel 4 came up with in 1990, The Crystal Maze.

    Beginning in February 1990, the show lasted five years, with six series and a selection of kids Christmas specials also aired.  The show was made by Chatsworth Television and it became a huge hit almost overnight, attracting a regular weekly audience of 6million viewers.  The Crystal Maze came at a time when Channel 4 needed to attract a viewing figure which would frighten the main terrestrial heavyweights, BBC and ITV.  The star of Rocky Horror show Richard O’Brien was persuaded to host the show, which at the time, was the biggest arena around for any kind of gameshow.  Filmed at The Shepperton Studios, the maze itself cost £250,000 to construct and is the size of two football pitches.

     The set was constructed into four different zones, offering the team players a variety of challenges and obstacles to negotiate their way to the ultimate prize for winning a game, a precious, shiny, silver crystal.  The ‘Aztec’ zone was often referred to as the most popular zone with the fans.  Aztec was based on a small, parasitic village that had the feel of Egypt to it!  Futuristic was seen as the zone which offered the ‘modern’ world which we live in today.  Clearly, the producers ideas of what the world would look like in 2011, back in 1990 were completely different!  Nevertheless, it gave everyone, including the competitors a feel of future land.  The Medieval zone is set in a castle area, and is where ‘Mumsie,’ played by Sandra Caron was based.  Often, O’Brien would pay a visit, even if a game featuring her would not take place in the episode.  The least popular zone was Industrial, which was set around a chemical factory.  Being scientific was the name of the game, but this zone was dropped for the more popular and demanding Ocean zone in 1993.  Of course, at the centre of the maze was The Crystal Dome, where after the physical, mental and skilful challenges of the four zones before them, the climax would take place.  The Dome was where the teams of six would compete to find out if they won or lost the ultimate game.

DOME: Another team take on the maze, guided by Richard O'Brien

    The teams would be led by a captain, with a vice-captain taking over should the captain get locked in.  A time limit to complete each game was set by Richard O’Brien and it would be within the limit that the challenger would compete in either a skill, mental, physical or mystery game to earn a crystal.  If a crystal was won, five seconds would be gained in The Crystal Dome and the more time in the Dome would give a better chance of overall success.  If time ran out and the challenger failed to get out of the game in time, they would be locked in and it would up to the rest of the team to decide whether to buy the individual out, or keep them stewing to reflect over the grave mistake they’d made.  If they went ahead with the buying option, a crystal would have to be sacrificed.  Teams who went around The Crystal Maze had varying degrees of success.  In 1992, one team was so bad, they only won one crystal and consequently, five seconds of time in The Crystal Maze.  Even O’Brien gave them little hope when he let the contestants into the Dome; “I would wish you good luck, but I’m not going to bother, because it’s a waste of time.”  Unsurprisingly, the hapless team lost!  In the Dome itself, the team had to collect as many gold credits as they could, and avoid collecting silver credits.  Every silver slip that went through the letterbox would deduct a gold token off the team’s final tally.  Should the team earn a final total of 100 gold tokens, after deductions, all the members of the team would win a mediocre prize.  Even if a team lost, they would still go home with a crystal engraved; ‘I cracked the Crystal Maze!’

    In 1993, Richard O’Brien left the show just before the Christmas special.  It was a mysterious and confusing exit and was a body blow to the show’s popularity.  In an interview many years, O’Brien gave the reason for his decision to leave;

"The Crystal Maze was a road I walked down; I never imagined I'd go down that particular byway. I liked it but even at the time I thought - I never saw myself doing this kind of work. So I did it for four years and thought I better get out while I am ahead, while I am remembered fondly."

    Ed Tudor-Pole was his replacement, but he never lived up to expectations.  Tudor-Pole was dismal and struggled to fill O’Brien shoes.  As with most shows, changes were made to rules, as were the costumes and by the time of August 1995, The Crystal Maze had become a pale shadow of its former glory.  Once Chatsworth Television’s contract with Channel 4 expired, The Crystal Maze was consigned to the history books on 10 August 1995.

     Despite its unfortunate demise in the 90s, there are some dedicated fans (including myself) that are campaigning for an eventual return.  ITV has been rumoured in the past to be bringing the show back, especially in 2009, but these talks ended up reaching a dead end.  The Crystal Maze’s popularity remains very strong though.  Challenge, now on Freeview shows classic episodes every weeknight at 6pm and in two polls conducted by online site UKGameshows.com, The Crystal Maze came out on top as ‘The Greatest Gameshow of All Time’ in 2006 and 2010. 

     The Crystal Maze is considered to be ‘a highly ambitious high-risk show which paid off handsomely.’  I’d certainly agree with that.  It might have fallen from grace, but its popular cult following, even today, means it will always have a strong legacy.