Bullseye on Challenge

Just a small thing, but Dave is run by UKTV whereas Challenge is run by VMTV (formerly Flextech). Whilst UKTV is half owned by VMTV it is operated separately (much like the sit-up.tv channels were even when under 100% VM ownership).

I'm not sure if it is still the case, but when UKTV was launched in 1997 the channels were subject to full BBC editorial control - the presentation style was the 1997 Corporate identity minus the BBC logo! I think the channels were even to be named BBC Gold, BBC Style, BBC, Horizons and BBC Arena but the trust intervened (I could be wrong though - there's little about it on the net, I'd love to know more!).

I always thought the edits were done by BBC Worldwide and supplied as a version to fill a 1 hour slot with advert breaks. Certainly, the UK Gold Doctor Who omnibus edits have shown up since on Sci-Fi.

I remember reading a Crystal Maze fansite (in the early days of the internet) which didn't seem to remember a version without these edits!

They've also edited the credits (they're quite lengthy!), sometimes the font isn't correct, and in the later series the old Chatsworth TV logo is used (this had definitely changed by Series 6). Another strange edit is that some tasks in the Tudor-Pole episodes have had the solution overlaid in that same incorrect font (the first and possibly second series sometimes showed a clue or solution, but this didn't last).

I think Steve may have been suffering to playout for UKTV channels and the Virgin channels all being run by Red Bee.

Just to let everyone know. The font used in the first two series of The Crystal Maze was Bank Gothic and in the last four series it was Equinox.

And this font, which replaces the credits of (I think?) the second third series and is overlaid on puzzles in the sixth series is neither of those, it's more like Verdana. I'll fontmatch it next time I see it.

Yes but 0891 numbers at that time were the premium rate numbers of their time, charged typically at the (now considered very reasonable) rate of 49p a minute. These days Ofcom has no designation for 089x numbers, so it'll be akin to phoning up and getting the unobtainable tone. Nobody would have lost out cost-wise considering the original number now doesn't work.

with regards to Crystal Maze, since they've now decided it needs to conform to 2010 advertising regimes of three breaks per programme as opposed to 1993 advertising regimes of two breaks per programme, how much of it has been butchered compared to the original episodes?



Challenge were good at editing? Did you see Takeshi's Castle when it first hit the airwaves? Very badly edited, akin to splicing film just done very badly. Now they've stuck a Virgin endcap on it and changed the graphics, the show's editing suddenly became a lot better so I can only presume they've tidied some dodgy edits up. Still a few patchy areas but better than it used to be.

It lends itself pretty well considering there are 3 zone changes before going to the Dome at the end. The break bumper (is that the right term??) isn't consistent any more but it's acceptable.