History YMMV / Knightmare

** There's a pretty sharp fan divide over whether the Series 1-3 (and 8) format of entirely hand-drawn and computer animated dungeons or the Series 4-7 format of live-action dungeons with only a few specially-created rooms is the better one, though plenty of fans like both. Similarly, there are those who prefer the NeutralEvil dungeon residents of Series 1-4 over the more standard-issue "Good vs. Evil" conflict from Series 5-8.

* WhatAnIdiot: A team was once told to not wake up the dragon and to use a spell first, and an advisor then insisted they wake the dragon up first.

** Ah Wok the merchant from Series 6, due to being a stereotypical YellowFace character who was outdated even by 1992 standards, and somewhat redundant considering that the established (al, beit less trustworthy) merchant character of Julius Scaramonger still featured in that season. Even the show's creators seemed to realise that the character was a misfire, and had his actor play the much more warmly-received part of Rothberry the apothecary in Series 7.

** Ah Wok the merchant from Series 6, due to being a stereotypical YellowFace character who was outdated even by 1992 standards, and somewhat redundant considering that the established (albeit less trustworthy) merchant character of Julius Scaramonger still featured in that season. Even the show's creators seemed to realise that the character was a misfire, and had his actor play the much more warmly-received part of Rothberry the apothecary in Series 7.

* GrowingTheBeard: It's widely accepted among fans that despite its insane difficulty in comparison to what came later, Series 3 was by far the best of the show's run.

* SeasonalRot: Series 4-7 are generally regarded as a step down from, at the very least, Series 3, though opinions tend to differ on exactly how much. Series 8 is even more divisive, as some fans appreciated the return to the format of Series 3, though many felt that it was poorly executed and suffered from decisions such as allowing the last two teams to skip straight from Level 1 to Level 3.

* ActingForTwo: Pretty much the entire supporting cast (as in, anyone who wasn't in the main chamber with the advisors) played multiple roles during the quest. The most notable being:
** In addition to playing BigBad Lord Fear, Mark Knight also portrayed Rothberry, Sir Hugh de Witless and Ah Wok.
** Clifford Norgate played Hordriss as well as voicing Smirkenoff and Oakley.
** Paul Valentine played Motley, Sylvester Hands and Fidget.
** Iona Kennedy portrayed Sidress, Greystagg and Maldame.
** Clifford Barry played Lissard, Brother Strange and Raptor.

* DreamTeam: A contender for the best team throughout the whole of the series run definitely has to be the final team of Series 7; dungeoneer Barry and his advisors Simon, Derek and Daniel. Unlike many teams on the show, these four threw themselves fully into the quest; the advisors didn't speak in whispers but instead all conversations and decisions were discussed openly and clearly and (in a welcome change from many dungeoneers) Barry didn't so much play the game but instead got actively involved in it, playing along with the characters and needing no prompting whatsoever (to the extent that Sylvester Hands struggled to keep up with him at one point). As a result, despite a couple of near-misses (especially in the Corridor of Blades), not only were Barry and his team able to retrieve the shield but also managed to save Knightmare Castle from a troll Lord Fear had unleashed bringing the quest (and the series) to an exciting and satisfying close.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: If a dungeoneer failed to gain vital information, magic or pick up an essential clue object, they would enter what Tim Child described as 'losing status' by which the team would not be allowed to defeat the dungeon. Although occasionally the production team would be allow them to do a few extra chambers to allow for more adventure, they would also occasionally quickly end the quest by bringing forward the obstacle the dungeoneer could no longer pass.

** In addition to playing BigBad Lord Fear, Mark Knight also portrayed Rothberry and Ah Wok.

* PainfulRhyme: Frequently, in the PreviouslyOn sections. Also, Treguard's closing verse in series 6 required him to rhyme 'foul' with 'hour' every week. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in one recap:
-->They perished, all: though what a pity\\
It does help rhyme this awful ditty.

* NightmareFuel: The life force meter. It took the form of a knight's helmeted head for the first 5 seasons. As the Dungeoneer gradually lost health, pieces of the knight's helmet broke off and flew away. Okay, not so bad. But then when the helmet was completely gone, the skin of the knight's head began ''peeling away'' to reveal a skull underneath, as the face goes through a series of suitably shocked and horrified expressions until it no longer has lips to emote with. And after ''that'', the skull itself cracked and fell apart, the remaining chunk of it ''flying towards the camera'' to leave just the eyes which then rolled out of the screen one by one. '''''[[ForDoomTheBellTolls BONG!]]''''' "[[GameOver Ooh, nasty.]]"

** This troper remembers tuning in to a repeat episode of Knightmare as a kid not knowing what it was and being horrified when one team failed to pick up a magical object that would protect them from Medusa's stare. Not only did the dungeoneer get turned to stone, the ''entire team'' got turned to stone as well! And the presenter seemed really happy about it!

* SpiritualLicensee: Though an official American adaptation never got off the ground (see the Trivia tab), two shows did kinda follow in its' footsteps: ''Series/NickArcade'', which mixed the game-playing action of ''Series/{{Starcade}}'' with a bonus round like this show; and ''Series/MastersOfTheMaze'', where there was more CGI and physical props, less chroma key, and more of an educational bent.
* ThatOneLevel: The Corridor of Blades claimed more dungeoneers than any other trap in the show.
** The Causeways count, too. Sure, you would need to know the combination to get past, but then the thing would start falling apart to place false pressure upon you.
* TheScrappy:

** Ah Wok from Series 6, due to being a stereotypical YellowFace character who was outdated even by 1992 standards, and somewhat redundant considering that the established (albeit less trustworthy) character of Julius Scaramonger still featured in that season. Even the show's creators seemed to realise that the character was a misfire, and had his actor play the much more warmly-received part of Rothberry in Series 7.

* DreamTeam: A contender for the best team throughout the whole of the series run definitely has to be the final team of Series 7; dungeoneer Barry and his advisors Simon, Derek and Daniel. Unlike many teams on the show, these four threw themselves fully into the quest; the advisors didn't speak in whispers but instead all conversations and decisions were discussed openly and clearly and (in a welcome change from many dungeoneers) Barry didn't so much participate in the game as got actively involved in it, playing along with the characters and needing no prompting whatsoever from his team or the dungeon's characters (to the point Sylvester Hands struggled to keep up with him). As a result, despite a couple of near-misses (especially in the Corridor of Blades), not only were Barry and his team able to retrieve the shield but also managed to save Knightmare Castle from a troll Lord Fear had unleashed bringing the quest (and the series) to an exciting and satisfying close.