I know this means nothing to most of you so you couldn't care less but the revival of The Crystal Maze aired tonight and I'm excited now as I was when it arrived - they managed to do it justice and not ruin the childhood (and adulthood) memories of anyone who watched it in the 90s. I didn't stop smiling throughout and reaction has been overwhelmingly positive from all.Did you guys ever get The Crystal Maze - a 90's game show hosted by Richard O'Brien then Ed Tudor Pole in which 6 contestants played games in 4 zones then caught tickets in the Crystal Dome.
If not this will mean nothing to you but if so IT'S COMING BACK!!!! This is like Big Brother returning times a million. It regularly tops the list of shows people want to come back and the best shows of all time, and despite being repeated continuously in the 20 years since it ended nobody has been brave enough to attempt a revival. Until now.
They've chosen a great host too if rumours are correct - David Tennant. Yes, The Doctor. It's returning in October for Stand up to Cancer with a celeb special (probably filmed at the experience which opened in London this year), and will go to series if successful.
It is news that is literally made my year.
(EDIT: Slightly less excitingly this has now been confirmed but with Stephen Merchant rather than David Tennant as host)
They are still trying to claim it's a one-off special filmed at the Crystal Maze Experience for Stand Up to Cancer, but the effort put in showed it's much more than that, especially now they've announced a second Crystal Maze Experience will be opening up in Manchester at the former Granada studios, with those in the know claiming it's being set up more with TV production in mind.
What I think is interesting and perhaps relevent here is essentially this long awaited revival of a much loved classic came about through crowdfunding. It was a crowdfunding campaign that got the Crystal Maze Experience built, so fans could go and play the game they loved to watch as a kid. And then once the set was in place C4 came calling and for the first time in 20 years the show that regularly topped the polls of shows people wanted to come back actually had a chance to come back.
Now admittedly Big Brother is a very different format (with much more complicated licencing arrangements) but what this does show is that any show with a strong enough fanbase has a chance - and it can be the fans in control of it's destiny.