Will You Start the Fans Please…
The Crystal Maze to return to Channel 4 for Stand Up To Cancer
Celebrity Special to be Produced by Fizz and filmed at Live London Experience
After a 21-year absence from our screens, celebrated adventure gameshow The Crystal Maze is returning to air as part of Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign this October. Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4. The Crystal Maze is produced by Fizz, part of RDF.
Comedian, writer and actor Stephen Merchant will host the one-off special guiding a team of celebrity contestants around the Aztec, Medieval, Futuristic and Industrial zones before sending them in to face the fans in the iconic Crystal Dome.
Stephen said: “As a huge fan of the original series, I’m honoured to support Stand Up To Cancer by hosting this one-off edition of The Crystal Maze. Richard O’Brien and Ed Tudor-Pole leave big shoes to fill, but I have size 14 feet, so I’ll do my best.”
The team of famous faces from the worlds of entertainment and sport who are limbering up to crack The Crystal Maze will be announced soon. Rather than win a day out at an adventure park (or the booby prize of a replica crystal) each of our celebrities will be playing for time in the Crystal Dome – the gold and silver tokens they collect will all raise money for Stand Up To Cancer.
The special will be filmed in London at The Crystal Maze Live Experience created by Little Lion Entertainment, and is produced for Channel 4 by Fizz (part of RDF). The Crystal Maze was recreated as a live experience earlier this year by Little Lion Entertainment who are building a selection of old favouites and new games for the special.
The original The Crystal Maze, presented by Richard O’Brien and Ed Tudor-Pole, aired for six series between 1990 and 1995 and became cult viewing. The hit series saw a team of contestants pitting their wits against the clock within four zones of games to gain entry to the Crystal Dome.
The Crystal Maze will be executive produced by Peter Usher and Neale Simpson for Fizz. The celebrity special has been commissioned by Tom Beck, Commissioning Editor for Live & Events and Head of TV Events Ed Havard.
Ed Havard, Channel 4’s Head of TV Events, comments: “We wanted something extra special for the Stand Up To Cancer campaign this year, so we’re delighted that Crystal Maze will be returning for a celebrity one-off. And in Stephen Merchant we have the perfect host – he is our dream booking for this show.”
Peter Usher executive producer at Fizz adds: “It’s an exciting challenge to make this celebrity special everything that fans of the show will be expecting whilst also entertaining a new generation of viewers who weren’t even a twinkle in Mumsey’s eye when The Crystal Maze first aired.”
Tom Lionetti-Maguire, Founder, Little Lion Entertainment says: “Seeing people’s joy at playing The Crystal Maze for themselves has been a dream and we’re overjoyed that the beautiful world we created will be the backdrop to such a special comeback and such a worthy cause.”
The Crystal Maze special, sponsored by BT, will form part of a wider season of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) programming on Channel 4, including a four-part all celebrity series of The Island with Bear Grylls, sponsored by Scottish Power.
Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 to accelerate new cancer treatments to UK patients and save more lives, more quickly. The special edition will air as part of Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK’s Stand Up to Cancer campaign this October.
Fizz and RDF are Banijay UK Companies. The Crystal Maze is a Banijay UK format.
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