![]() They have been with the show since it started in France in 1990.Ĭhannel 5 got in trouble when they used a game from the French show which involved the contestant finding at a painted topless lady at the end of a maze then looking for the password that had been 'tattooed' onto her skin. Their real names are Andre and Alain respectively, and when not filming Fort Boyard they are civil servants. They are in every version of the show around the world doing the jobs of contestant coordination, counting the keys and so on. Who were those midgets that went around with the team? Well, in France they are known as Passe-Partout (Everywhere) and Passe-Temps (All the time). Each episode cost about £175,000 to make. The "Ultimate Challenge" version was created by Paul Farrer.īefore Channel 5 got their hands on it, Channel 4 mounted a pilot with Richard O'Brien at the helm, before making The Crystal Maze instead.Ĭhannel 5 had to film all ten episodes of the first series in five days. It was created by Paul Koulak and Expand Music. The catchy theme tune was the same as the original French programme. "Monique - the tiger's head if you please!"įrom Takes On The World: "Different people, different nations, DIFFERENT GAMES!" (and various variations of)įort Boyard was the brainchild of Jacques Antoine. Laura Hamilton and Geno Segers Catchphrases Regular bits include "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", "Heroes and Zeroes" (which is a bit like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, all told), The A-Z of Fort Boyard, seeing how different countries handle the same game and interviews with various characters from the fort (the humour here coming from the fact that Vine doesn't speak French and the characters don't speak English). We also particularly enjoy the clips from the Korean show which looks like it's a lot of fun. Its factually accurate (in the main) and it's particularly pleasing in that it opens up the French version to a British audience. Vine should know what he's talking about, he was a celebrity contestant on Challenge's version of the show in 2003. Tim Vine provides a hilarious voiceover for the clips and provides links on location on the Fort. This was a ten-part entertainment documentary looking at various different versions of the show from around the world. We feel this is the best place to include a bit on Fort Boyard: Takes On The World. Penfold turned out to be a lot of fun as the main host and Tom Baker was ace as the 19th century marooned captain who was liable to silly monologues.Ĭhristopher Ellison, Jodie Penfold and Tom Baker set the challenge with Jacques, Jules and Laboulle. They had updated the graphics to match more recent French episodes.Įllison was a far less unfriendly Boyard who resorted to the same speech patterns before each game (this annoyed many fans of Grantham, who at this point had returned to Eastenders, which is reasonable enough). There was more emphasis on collecting keys (teams now have to collect five and are given nine chances to do this) and only two adventures during an episode (but having been off the screens for several years, there was a bank of new adventures to choose from). Even more surprising considering the budgetary constraints they were probably under, they did a really good job. Surprising many, Challenge created their own version of the show during the Summer of 2003. But having seen the French version for a number of years you can't help but watch it and think: "They do that bit so much better in France." It's not that the British version was bad, it wasn't, it was still a highly engrossing show. ![]() Thankfully, they were a bit more honest about it in later series, and now the gold score was converted into a leaderboard-style effort which worked a lot better. ![]() We were never told how much a doubloon was worth, merely that they would "convert the gold into cash later". Including, sadly, the British version of this original French smash hit.Īt the end of the time, they went into the treasure room, spelled out the password on the floor and if they were correct, they had the rest of the two minutes to get as many "gold doubloons" as they can. Very few other shows matched it in terms of style, excitement and cleverness. The Foundation and Adventure Line Productions for CITV, 1 January 2012 to 17 December 2014 (50 episodes in 5 series)īrilliant, brilliant, brilliant superb show. Thames (a Fremantle company) for Channel 5, 22 September to 29 December 2001 (14 episodes in 1 series)Īdventure Line Productions in collaboration with Ronin Entertainment for Challenge, 20 October to 3 December 2003 (20 episodes in 1 series)Ĭhallenge, 18 to 29 October 2004 (10 episodes in 1 series) Grundy (a Pearson Television Company) for Channel 5, 16 October 1998 to 27 July 2001 (40 episodes in 3 series) Leslie Grantham (Boyard, master of the Fort) 4.6 Are you ready for the Ultimate Challenge?. ![]()
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