First viewed : 11 April 1991
This had been on for a while before Mum and I tuned it and with the help of YouTube and imdb I've managed to pinpoint exactly when we started which was Episode 4 of the second series.
The Crystal Maze was loosely based on the French game show Fort Boyard , and involved a team of six contestants, previously unknown to each other, completing a set of challenges both physical and mental against the clock in order to win crystals which bought them precious time "in the dome". This was a plastic edifice where they had to pluck pieces of gold paper whipped up by fans and post a hundred, after deducting any spoiler silver pieces which had been mistakenly posted. Each contestant then won a day's paragliding or something similar. The contestants were usually under 40 and working in a professional capacity. The set was purpose-built with four thematic zones with a moderate physical challenge involved in moving from one to the other. I was very tickled by the girl who managed to fall into the water in the Aztec zone at the very start of one episode.
The leftfield choice as host was actor and Rocky Horror Show creator Richard O' Brien. O' Brien was an acerbic presence, generally helpful but allowed to show exasperation at the contestants' failings and fond of barbed asides to the camera. He was also astonishingly lithe and nimble given that he turned 50 in the course of his stint on the programme. He was assisted in running some of the challenges by actress Sandra Caron, previously best known as the sister of the ill-fated fifties singer Alma Cogan, as "Mumsy" ( in reality she was only six years older than O' Brien.
In that first episode I saw, the team was "led" by a James Songster, a giant Texan loudmouth living in Scotland and described as a "part time magician". James's obnoxious braying advice seemed to put off his team-mates rather than help them and his own performance was questionable. He put himself forward for two physical challenges ;in the first of which he didn't want to get his feet wet and in the second, he managed to get himself locked in. Unsurprisingly his team-mates opted to leave him in there.
Nevertheless that got me hooked on the programme and we watched it regularly after that. A Crystal Maze attraction opened at Blackpool shortly afterwards but my work colleague Erica told me it wasn't that good.
After four series O' Brien and Caron decided to quit the show. He was replaced by Ed Tudorpole ( aka Tenpole Tudor ) who took a softer, friendlier line towards the contestants and the show carried on for another two seasons, finishing in 1995.
Channel Four decided to revive the show two years ago. I took a look but decided I couldn't bear the host ( Richard Ayoade ) and haven't been back. I gather some team managed to go through an episode without winning a single crystal just two days ago so I might catch up on that one !
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