After a successful, nostalgia-filled comeback in October, The Crystal Maze is officially returning to TV screens everywhere with a full series on Channel 4. Read more: The Crystal Maze is back! One-off special will air in October with Stephen Merchant as host
Though there is no news on a release date yet, Channel 4 has commissioned 20 hour-long episodes and brought comedian and writer Richard Ayoade to present the new version of the hit 90s show.
The channel revived the show in 2016 after 21 years for a one-off celebrity special as part of its Stand Up to Cancer telethon, with Stephen Merchant as host. The show reached 4.3 million viewers and was so successful the channel decided to commission the series.
If you don’t remember The Crystal Maze when it was aired in the early 90s (and haven’t watched re-runs on the Challenge TV channel) then the show works like this: teams of five contestants take part in different challenges throughout zones of the maze, including Aztec, Medieval, Industrial and Future zones. If the team wins enough crystals by completing the challenges, they enter the finally test in the legendary Crystal Dome to attempt to catch golden tokens to win prizes.
The new Crystal Maze design will stay true to the much-loved first, as the original Crystal Maze designer James Dillon is being brought in to create the new 30,000 sq ft maze.
For budding-Maze enthusiasts, details of how contestants can apply to take part will be announced soon. If you can’t wait that long, you can take part in The Crystal Maze experience, inspired by the show, in London. A second venue is opening in Manchester from April 2017.
And, if that isn’t enough for you, watch episodes from the first six seasons on YouTube and witness the original Maze Master, Richard O’Brien in action.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
