Overview
The show features teams of four children (around 11–16 years old). On the call of "Enter, Stranger", the first member of the team (the "dungeoneer") enters Knightmare Castle via an antechamber belonging to Treguard of Dunshelm (played by Hugo Myatt). After giving his or her name, the dungeoneer is asked by Treguard to call their three advisors, who magically appear next to the viewing apparatus beside them (though, in Series 8, all members of the team appeared at once). Before entering the dungeon, the dungeoneer is given a knapsack to wear, in which they are to place food found along the way, in order to replenish Life Force (see below). In addition, the "Helmet of Justice" is put on the dungeoneer's head, blocking their vision except for the area immediately around them. The story is that this is to protect the dungeoneer from seeing the real danger ahead.
The dungeoneer then enters Treguard's partly computer-generated, partly hand-drawn fantasy dungeon which was accomplished through bluescreen chromakey—hence the need for the helmet, as the dungeoneer otherwise just sees a large blue room. The team watches the dungeoneer from a screen in the antechamber, and guides the player using hurried descriptions and shouts instructions, overcoming a variety of puzzles and traps in the dungeon. The instructions might be "Sidestep left, walk forward, take a small step to your right, pick up the key", much like many text-based computer games (for example the appropriately named "multi-user dungeons") that relies on description and commands rather than any visuals.
Spells can also be cast, which enables the dungeoneer to attack, open doors, restore one's life force, reveal clues and perform other special abilities. This is accomplished by spelling out the name of the spell the team wishes to cast. For example, to cast a WELL spell that reveals a wellway to the next level, an advisor calls out: "Spellcasting: W-E-L-L". It is also possible to reverse or stop a previously cast spell by dispelling, which can be done by calling out "Dispel", followed by the letters of the spell in an incorrect order, but not necessarily in reverse order. One team (Team 7 of Series 2) is confounded by bad spelling, continually missing out the letter O of a SHROUD spell that is put on their dungeoneer while the antagonist Mogdred laughs evilly, while Treguard, apparently constrains by magic, tries to tell them ("Let...ter...O!"). Later on, that same team are killed off, again due to bad spelling (in this case, misinterpreting a SHOVEL spell that they were given prior as SPADE).
There are three levels in the dungeon. The object of the game is to collect various items, meeting a selection of the many inhabitants of the dungeon along the way, and get out 'alive' after finding a specified treasure. In some series, the teams could choose one of four treasures to pursue. Their choice would only change the first room that they enter, and the prize found. It would always be located towards the end of level 3. There are different ways of travelling between the levels, including wellways, mine cart rides, lifts ('descenders') and even airborne rides on Smirkenorff, a dragon. The dungeon's inhabitants includes jesters, maids, and wizards, who helps the dungeoneer along the way, and guards, witches, and sorcerers, who either demand passwords, spells, useful objects they need or simply try to kill the dungeoneer. Mary Whitehouse was initially critical of this latter aspect of the programme (i.e. the simulated fatal demise of the dungeoneers) after having been given a macabre description of Knightmare by the press. However, she apologised after she saw Knightmare for herself, noting that there was no gore and Treguard always made it clear that the dungeoneers still survived in "their own time".
If the team manages to complete all three levels and master the dungeon, they are awarded with a prize, which changed over the years from the "Silver Spurs of Squiredom", to medallions (Series 4), to "Frightknight" trophies (a design of a Knight holding a sword). Unlike most other children's shows, Knightmare had no qualms over having a very high difficulty level. In its eight-year history, only eight teams managed to successfully conquer the dungeon: two in Series 2 (teams 4 and 10), one in Series 4 (team 6), one in series 5 (team 4), one in series 6 (team 5), two in Series 7 (teams 6 and 7) and a final one in Series 8 (team 6). The last team to play in each series would often face an impossible quest, as the dungeon would inevitably collapse (indicating the end of the series) before they had time to reach the conclusion.
While the essence of Knightmare remained the same, there was also much change and development throughout its series. In Series 2 (1988), a quest object system was introduced, so that dungeoneers now had a specific item to reclaim at the end. There were four main quest items: The Sword of Freedom (originally The Sword of Justice, retrieved once), The Shield of Justice (originally The Shield of Liberty, retrieved twice), The Cup that Heals (never retrieved), and The Crowning Glory (retrieved three times). There were occasionally others, such as "Free the Maid" (used twice, freed once) or "Find the Talisman" (used once, retrieved once).
In its early series, Knightmare lacked a single major antagonist or 'baddie'. Indeed, originally Treguard was specifically a neutral character, neither on the side of good nor evil. The closest there was to a main villain was Mogdred (portrayed by John Woodnutt), but his main duty was, according to Merlin (a wizard, and Mogdred's 'alter ego' in the first series) in the penultimate episode of Series 2, to "scare you into making a mistake", though he did kill two dungeoneers, one in Series 2 and another early in Series 4. In Series 5 (1991), however, changes were made. The majority of the characters were split into two sides: the righteous "Powers that Be", and the villainous "Opposition", the leader of which was Lord Fear played by Mark Knight. By this time, Treguard's stance had now fully evolved into that of a strictly good character.
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