The Crystal Maze: Celebrity Special
CHANNEL 4, 9.00PM
Channel 4’s successful reboot of the cult Eighties series continues its golden run of form with another charity special featuring people who, in the words of Maze Master Richard Ayoade, “we have all agreed, for some reason, to call… celebrities”. Ayoade is unstinting in his goodnatured jibes, and his targets are obliging in laughing them off: this time it’s Olympians Kelly Holmes and Greg Rutherford, Hollyoaks’ Jorgie Porter, vlogger Alfie Deyes and grime MC Big Narstie. The latter comes in for the roughest ride, and you may not see a more agonising sequence than Big Narstie wrestling with Jarhead’s (Adam Buxton) not-enormously taxing riddles, but his utter delight at being involved (“I’m GASSED!”) earns him a pass.
The tasks are the usual grab-bag, honouring the heritage of the series while also advancing it, from the daft (balancing on space hoppers) to the fiendish (blowing a ball around a maze with “directional guffs” from an air pump). For his part, Ayoade once again proves himself the natural heir to Richard O’brien in surreal wit (pace Ed Tudor-pole and Stephan Merchant), and the cause, Stand Up 2 Cancer, is unimpeachable. Gabriel Tate