There’s a double dose of good news for fans of ‘The Crystal Maze’.
Channel 4 has confirmed that the show will be returning for a full 20-episode series later this year.
Not only that, but the suitably quirky Richard Ayoade will be stepping in to Richard O’Brien’s shoes to present the offbeat challenge show.
The future of the show looked in doubt, following the success of the ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ special, once the host of that spectacular Stephen Merchant announced he wouldn’t commit to a full series. However, the star of ‘The IT Crowd’ is a very pleasing substitute for Maze Master.
Although the one-off special was filmed at the Crystal Maze live experience in the centre of London, a brand new purpose-built maze in Bristol, reported to spread across 30,000 square feet, will be constructed for the series.
The new show will see teams traveling through new zones - Aztec, Medieval, Future and Industrial - taking on the usual array of challenges before heading to the Crystal Dome.
News on how you can apply to take part in the new series will be coming soon.
Richard Ayoade follows in a rich tradition, pioneered by ‘Rocky Horror’ star Richard O’Brien before Edward Tudor-Pole took over. Richard made a crowd-pleasing return to the screen, as ‘The Computer’ in the charity special. There are set to be more celebrity specials to accompany the forthcoming series, so hopefully Richard will be popping up again.