The Crystal Maze is a British game show devised by Jacques Antoine, based upon his format for the French game show Fort Boyard, and produced for Channel 4. The programme focuses on teams of contestants, a mixed group of men and women, attempting a range of challenges to earn time required to help them complete one final challenge, which if completed successfully earns them a prize. The premise of the show is themed around challenges set to different periods of human history within a fictional labyrinth of time and space, and is notable for the use of golf ball-sized Swarovski glass crystals as a reward for each challenge successfully completed by contestants, and lock-in conditions for contestants that ran out of time or broke a three-strikes rule on a challenge. The Crystal Maze originally consisted of six series, including five Christmas specials involving teams of children, which aired between 15 February 1990 to 10 August 1995.
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | Jacques Antoine |
| Based on | Fort Boyard |
| Presented by | British series, Richard O'Brien (1990–1993, 2016), Ed Tudor-Pole (1993–1995), Stephen Merchant (2016), Richard Ayoade (2017–), American series, Adam Conover (2020) |
| Starring | Sandra Caron (1990–93), Dennis Price (1994–95), Maureen Lipman (2016), Adam Buxton (2017–), Jessica Hynes (2017) |
| Theme music composer | Zack Laurence |
| Opening theme | "Force Field" |
| Ending theme | "Force Field" |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 6 (original), 3 (revival), 1 (American) |
| No. of episodes | 83 (original, inc. 5 specials), 1 (2016 SU2C special), 45 (revival), 10 (American) |
| Location(s) | Lee International Studios, Shepperton (1990), Aces High Studio, North Weald Airfield (1991–95), The Crystal Maze Live Experience, London (2016), The Bottle Yard Studios, Bristol (2017–) |
| Running time | 60 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Production company(s) | Chatsworth Television (1990–95), Fizz in association with Little Lion Entertainment (2016), Fizz and RDF West (2017–) |
| Distributor | Banijay |
| Original network | Channel 4, E4 (2020) |
| Picture format | 576i (4:3) (1990–95), 1080p (16:9) (2016–) |
| Related shows | Jungle Run |
About The Crystal Maze
Contestants participate in a range of challenges that are set within a labyrinth consisting of four time zones. Each team must work together to collect gold tokens to win a prize.
Achievement of The Crystal Maze
The show was created by Jacques Antoine. Stephen Merchant once hosted a one-off celebrity edition of the show called Stand Up to Cancer. The show was revived in June of 2017 after going off the air in August of 1995.
Top Facts You Did Not Know About The Crystal Maze
Television series by RDF Media Group.. Channel 4 game shows.. British game shows.
Latest information about The Crystal Maze updated on July 28 2021.
