[James2001]

I've never been sure why so many people dislike Ed on the show, I always thought he did a good job even if he was never going to be as good as Richard. Though even Ed doesn't like to talk about it.

[Neil Jones]

I've never been sure why so many people dislike Ed on the show, I always thought he did a good job even if he was never going to be as good as Richard. Though even Ed doesn't like to talk about it.

I think the exact phrase used was "I was put on this Earth to play rock and roll, not present bloody gameshows" - Tudor-pole of course being the lead singer of a punk rock band as well as an actor.

I suspect the underlying issue was that he wasn't Richard O'Brien, who let's be honest only really rose to fame at all because of The Rocky Horror Show and its spin-off film. If that hadn't happened Crystal Maze could have gone to anybody else for hosting really, though I don't really know who was in the running for it besides O'Brien.

Lets not be mistaken here, Ed was good in his own way, we all have our own styles and methods of doing things, but the end result was the same, a professionally produced piece of television. However I sometimes wonder whether even if they hadn't picked Ed and just chose somebody else, the end result would have been the same - another two series and that's a wrap.

[WillPS]

It still baffles me that it was dropped. The ratings were decent (including repeat runs) and there was plenty of life in it still. You almost wonder why Channel 5 didn't pick it up themselves rather than do Fort Boyard.

[msim]

It still baffles me that it was dropped. The ratings were decent (including repeat runs) and there was plenty of life in it still. You almost wonder why Channel 5 didn't pick it up themselves rather than do Fort Boyard.

Balance of ratings/income Vs the huge cost of building and maintaining a colossal set. Ch4 after 1993 no longer had the fallback of the ITV companies. Maybe that was a factor?

Maybe also they just genuinely felt it had run the course and was no longer innovative enough. Treasure Hunt from Chatsworth lasted seven series, and they got six years from Crystal Maze. Channel 4 back then was more open to pushing a boundary and trying new things - not like now flogging dead horses for years (see endless series of Bakeoff, that dog house show and Gogglebox...)

[SuperSajuuk]

I feel like Crystal Maze went through a cycle of needing a refresh after every 3 seasons.

We had 3 seasons of Industrial [S1 to S3], and then from Series 4, that was replaced with Ocean (with other zones getting a bit of a refresh in other ways). You'd feel like a Series 7 would need to do something different with a zone (ie replacing one of the existing zones with something else), and if the budget or interest isn't there [because they have to keep designing new games and can't reuse them, although obviously newer series were using just modified versions of old series' games anyway], there's not much point trying to continue the series.

I think Ed certainly added a good amount of "lore" into the maze, for his time as Maze Master, and I always liked the occasional "night-time" Aztec to add something different to the series as well, but thats super minor and pretty much dependent on whether Aztec is the last zone or not.

[Brekkie]

We do know series 7 was dropped quite late - according to posts one of the fan blogs the games had been designed abd finalised for the series.

I suspect the underlying issue was that he wasn't Richard O'Brien, who let's be honest only really rose to fame at all because of The Rocky Horror Show and its spin-off film. If that hadn't happened Crystal Maze could have gone to anybody else for hosting really, though I don't really know who was in the running for it besides O'Brien.

I may be looking back on this with Maze tinted glasses as I've no idea how big a phenomenon Rocky Horror was when it was released but I'd argue that it was Crystal Maze which made him more of a household name and as such helped ensure the legacy of Rocky Horror too.

[Neil Jones]

Been observing Challenge off and on as they've been airing early 80s Bullseye all day (which makes a change I suppose from Chase, or Celebrity Chase which they aired all day Friday) except for Blockbusters at 4pm.

Challenge seem to have lost their continuity announcements again, so the idents are going out clean, and no ECPs, though these have been increasingly spotty for a while now even when they can use them (limited opportunities on Bullseye)

Heh, come back for Crystal Maze at 6pm and there's a voice!

[TVFan]

Challenge seem to have lost their continuity announcements again, so the idents are going out clean, and no ECPs, though these have been increasingly spotty for a while now even when they can use them (limited opportunities on Bullseye)

Heh, come back for Crystal Maze at 6pm and there's a voice!

I think ECPs are now only used in the evening, when I’ve checked during the day, there’s been announcements on the idents, but clean credits. Pretty sure this is the case for all Sky channels.

[eyeTV]

How long is it since Interceptor has been shown on Challenge?

[Happy2001]

How long is it since Interceptor has been shown on Challenge?

Last aired in 2015 so 9 years.