The Crystal Maze Fan blog meets original Producer and Director David G.Croft!

Today, The Crystal Maze fan blog had the privilege to meet the original 90s Maze Director and Producer, David G. Croft. We spoke for a good hour about the show, and he signed some books in our collection. We also showed him the Futuristic zone timer clock prop we have, and he confirmed it as real. David G. Croft is the man seen laughing and joking about the contestants on the famous YouTube Crystal Maze blooper behind the scenes 'Christmas' tapes, as seen here: https://youtu.be/-U68PUwXUoQ?si=mNXukCNwtIPv9GmX and here: https://youtu.be/sQD_idvdjXg?si=uVzEoaVjH-mMa3dq

He spoke to us about the various filming techniques he used to put the show together, as well as interesting facts we didn't know before. He said that Channel Four had a budget of roughly £2,500 per game, and they had to create 48 games for each series. Croft said that there's only so many game ideas you can come up with, so this was a challenge.

They were able to roll over any spare cash on one game for others. Eventually, the Crystal Maze game budget ran low, and so they came up with the idea of hiring an actress as a Fortune Teller for a game to save on cost. This is how 'Mumsie' was born.

Mumsie

David explained that it was Richard O'Briens genius that brought the Mumsie idea to life, and it was him that brought mystique and fantasy to the show. O'Brien made The Crystal Maze feel like a real, believable world to viewers. 

Crystal Maze concept

The Crystal Maze came about by accident, as the Fort Boyard fort was empty at the time. A pilot episode of Fort Boyard was filmed inside a UK studio with Richard O'Brien. There was a particular dislike about the Fort Boyard end game using Tigers, which obviously were pointless as they'd never eat the contestants, Croft explained. Chatsworth TV went away and thought of other ideas. A mock up of the Crystal Dome was built in an industrial estate in Paris. They had no idea what to do with it at first, but the idea of the Maze developed around the dome idea. Initially there were ideas about building various levels that contestants would have to scale to reach the dome, in order to win. But then came the token and fan idea.

Richard O'Brien game briefing

It was David G. Croft's job to take Richard O'Brien around the games before the contestants arrived, to brief him how each of them worked. Sometimes O'Brien would play some games himself to get a feel for them. The contestants would stay in a nearby hotel in Harlow the night before and O'Brien would have dinner with them.

Inspiration for the games within The Crystal Maze

The game ideas came from David Bodycombe and various other people, including David G.Croft himself. He would stare at index cards with various game ideas. He said they had to think how to make a game fit within a 12x12 cell. If it didn't fit, it simply wouldn't work. The key was to visualise how it would look on screen, then talk to Artem, the game designers to build the games. They would also categorise the games based upon how suited they were for a particular zone. I told him how I particularly loved the games where they were locked in to begin with and had to escape. A great twist.

 Croft explained how he would get game ideas from looking in toy shops in Soho in London, and would "upscale" them into games.

When is a safe not safe - when you're locked in it!

David explained that the opening sequences of the shows were filmed at the very end of the day, around 10pm - the same time the contestants would complete the Crystal Dome. O'Brien would have been tired by this point, but he still displayed enthusiasm and wit. So next time you watch an episode, the start was filmed at the end! We never knew this. He also said that occasionally some Crystal Dome tickets would fly into the moat and they had to fish them out. They had to film the dome "pick up" shots a few times for best effect, as sometimes the tokens would stick to the floor or sides.

David said that they did have good cameras back then for the time. He explained sitting through watching VHS tapes, and producing snapshots of points where he needed them to go back in the following day to record "pick ups" and retake particular shots - e.g. a Crystal rolling down, or a contestant grabbing a crystal. The first day was for the contestants, and the second day was used to record the "pick ups". This was pretty interesting. Overall, back then it took ten days to produce and edit one episode. It was painstaking, but thorough.

The Legacy of The Crystal Maze

David said him and Malcolm Heyworth are enormously proud of how successful The Crystal Maze became. He said that the shows look cinematic and high quality, because they had so much time and money back then to do it. All the zones were joined together in real life, and he said they had so much fun filming the transition shots between zones.

Set Location

They got booted out of Shepperton Studios after series 1 as they were told the space was needed for something else. They looked for alternative spaces and kept getting offered factory spaces. The problem with factories, is there are pillars which means the set would not be interconnected. So they found an aircraft hangar at North Weald to get around this. They paid a fixed amount and the owner was happy for the enormous Maze set to remain up, rather than having to keep dismantling it and storing it each time. They were initially worried about the nearby motorway noise, but the density of the set drowned it out. They would always get the heads up from North Weald ATC about any incoming aircraft, so aircraft noise was not really an issue he said. Only the sound of occasional rain. I asked him if any contestants got injured on set, he said no thankfully. Only one electrician who put his foot through a light.

Corporate events used the Maze

Another interesting fact he told us, is the original 90s North Weald Aircraft Hangar set was used for corporate events when it wasn't used for filming! Much like the live experiences today. Filming for the original series always happened in Nov/Dec, so it was incredibly cold on set.

Marketing of the Maze

Croft was frustrated at the time that the Maze was not pushed enough by Channel Four in terms of marketing, T shirts and billboards etc. He also doesn't understand why the series was never released onto DVD.

Why the 90s Maze ended early, and what would have happened if Series 7 happened.

Croft said that the Maze ended early because Channel 4 felt like it had a good run, but there was still fuel in the tank for more, and it was still doing the viewing figures. They had discussed turning the Aztec Zone into Wild West Zone for a Series 7, and even an Arctic Zone - but dismissed this idea as it would look too white on screen.

Thanks for the fantastic chat David, and for bringing the Maze to life for us all. The Crystal Maze legacy continues.