The idea for the program began when Jane Hewland, the creative force behind TV production company Hewland International, played Duck Hunt on her 11-year-old son Harry’s Nintendo Entertainment System. Hewland was struck by the potential of a show about videogames, and set about gathering together the cream of industry talent with the ultimate aim of creating a programme that would be every bit as vibrant and exciting as the subject matter it was to cover. One of the key members of that team was Dave ‘Games Animal’ Perry. Being associated with the show marked a turning point in Perry’s life: “Prior to my joining Hewland International to set-up GamesMaster I lived with a Rottweiller called Layla in a converted public transport bus which was wired up to a petrol generator and powered a two PC set-up”. Perry was involved with leading UK videogame mail order firm Special Reserve and worked as a publishing manager. Whilst in this position he was able to secure a wide range of industry contacts and this, coupled with his unbridled passion for games, led to Hewland seeking him out to assist with the production of the show. Perry soon became the resident ‘expert’, ready to hand out snippets of advice to players before they embarked on one of the many challenges that appeared in each episode.

Although Hewland were obviously well versed in the art of slick TV production, they needed the assistance of a seasoned gamer like Perry to really make the show succeed. “The production team were extremely talented individuals when it came to putting a television show together... but they knew absolutely nothing about games,” he comments. “Every challenge and review was set-up by myself and Steve Carsey, with the other three members of the team - Adam Woods, Cameron McAllister and Chris Knight - using their professional TV experience to decide what would work on screen and what wouldn't. They were very exciting times. I was just a raw gamer, and to see the secrets of television unfold in front of me was magical.”

Television is dominated by personalities and it’s arguable that much of GamesMaster’s appeal came from Dominik Diamond. He was able to crack and joke and entertain the viewer but at the same time he was a true fan of gaming. He quickly formed a bond with the audience that wouldn’t have been possible for someone who had no interest in the subject matter. However presenting a show about games wasn’t his original plan, as Perry recalls: “Dominik had screen tested for a presenting job on Channel 4's 'The Word' but had not been successful. However, we had good connections with the Word team and they gave us their failed test tapes to look at and we invited a few people from those tests in to try out for us. Dom was one of those people”. It soon became apparent that Diamond had the credentials Hewland were after. "I remember he turned up wearing one of those game watches, with Space Invaders or something like that on it,” remarks Perry. “It soon became very clear that he was the man for the show and so we gave him his big break.”

A problem that TV shows about videogames have always faced is how to make watching games as fun as actually playing them. Hewland decided on the ‘challenge’ format – where members of the studio audience would take on fiendish tasks set by the GamesMaster himself. Occasionally the show would run celebrity challenges - such notable figures as comedian Vic Reeves, Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers and snooker legend Jimmy White all appeared on the show.

The production team had to come up with an incentive for passing the challenges, which was difficult in itself thanks to Channel 4’s rules. “There were a great many restrictions in place as to what value of prize you could give people on TV,” recalls Perry. Eventually they decided on the highly coveted Golden Joystick – basically a normal plastic controller sprayed gold. It was a cheap but desirable trophy for gaming fans of the time. It was Perry himself who came up with the actual idea: he was given his own Golden Joystick by Hewland in recognition of this.

Another masterstroke was the use of highly respected journalists from the top magazines of the era as ‘co-commentators’ that would chat with over-excitable Diamond whilst the challenges were in motion, as well as providing comments for the review section of the show. Notable faces included all-round industry legend Julian Rignall, C+VG editor Tim Boone and Sega Power head man Neil West. Again, it was Perry’s involvement that made this possible. “When we all got together to do the review sections on that first series, it was the closest this industry has ever got to a 'Band Aid'-type situation, with all the biggest names from all the biggest magazines and publishers all coming together in one studio for the day,” he recalls.

One thing that set GamesMaster apart from shows of the time were the backdrops for each show. For the first series, filming took place in a disused church (with no running water, which must have been fun for the crew and studio audience). The second season was filmed at a former water-pumping station in London, which masqueraded as an off-shore oil rig and exploded at the end of the series, ‘killing’ Dom in the process. Series three took place in the infamous Oxford prison and had to be relocated to the London Dungeon when the prison was brought back into active service. Series four took place in Hell (Dom had died in the oil rig disaster, remember?) and series five went in the opposite direction – Heaven. Channel 4 were keen to bring the series back into the ‘kiddie’ fold and therefore series six was set in fictional underwater world of Atlantis. The seventh and final season, which Hewland weren’t even aware they were making until Channel 4 contacted them saying they had a slot in the upcoming schedule, was filmed on a desert island set similar to the one utilised in the previous series as there wasn’t time to construct anything new.

The unlikely involvement of Patrick Moore was the icing on the cake, but it almost didn’t happen. “Originally the concept was that the GamesMaster should be a small child,” says Perry “working along the lines that it was kids who were experts on the gaming hobby at the time, not grown-ups. But after days of auditions, we could not find a child that could successfully pull-off the bossy and at the same impatient and quirky nature that we wanted for the "Master”. So, we decided if we couldn't get a small child to do it, we would get someone older who looked a bit like a baby or small child. That's when we thought of Patrick. And it worked.”

After a storming first series and an equally successful second one, Dominik Diamond shocked the Hewland team by announcing that he was leaving the show. Dexter ‘The Press Gang’ Fletcher was drafted in as a replacement, but failed to make the same impact as his predecessor. He’s often cited as the reason for season three’s perceived failure, but as Perry reveals, the vast majority of the problems that hounded the show at the time were completely beyond Fletcher’s control: “People who criticise the Dexter Fletcher era really don't have full understanding of all the facts. The biggest blow to the show was never Dom's leaving, it was what was going on behind the scenes. Series three was the first time that GamesMaster had gone into production without the producer (Adam Wood) and director (Cameron McAllister) that had been so influential in creating the show and putting it on screen from day one.” With changes to the core production team, things were bound to be different, but matters weren’t helped by the addition of internal friction. “The new production team did not get on at all,” states Perry. “They would very often have arguments 'on air' which people like myself and Dexter would be able to hear going on, and which would leave the presenter with what were often very confused instructions. At one point I remember being stood on stage when the director counted down for the cameraman to roll, and Dexter wasn't even in the building. There was that much chaos, and for a man doing his first job as a presenter the environment was not a good one to be thrown into.” The final straw involved the backdrop for the series – ‘The Games Academy’, better known as HM Prison, Oxford. “The prison in which the series was originally being filmed was re-commissioned, leaving Hewland looking for a new location mid-season and having to totally re-think the format,” recalls Perry. The show was hastily relocated at the London Dungeon for the remainder of the series, but space limitations meant that the studio audience had to be ditched, which had a knock-on effect on the challenges. “Dexter gets a lot of stick for that series, but all he was trying to do was hold it together,” states Perry.

It was inevitable that Fletcher would not be offered presenting duties for series four, but what was slightly less predictable was the sudden reappearance of Diamond. Perry has his own opinion on the reasons for the Scotsman’s return: “The popular story as to why Dominik had left the show in the first place was that he had disagreed with Series three's McDonalds sponsorship on some kind of moral grounds. If that was the case then it was very strange that he should be happy to come running back for series four, which still had the same McDonald's sponsorship. In reality I think the show used Dexter as something of a scapegoat, while Dominik was glad to be able to come back and get a second chance after life away from GamesMaster maybe hadn't quite worked out as he might have hoped. It worked out well for him in the end though, because although he had walked out on the show at the end of series two, he was now able to return like a hero saving the day and nobody ever questioned his reasons for doing so.”

Although Perry and Diamond started out as firm friends, cracks in the relationship began to appear. “We were good friends through series one, and even in the early days of series two,” recalls Perry. “ I have pictures of the two of us mucking about outside of the set on the series two shoot. Then all of a sudden, halfway through shooting something changed. I don't know what caused it or why we fell out... but somehow we did. Maybe it was my support for Dexter on series three that did it. I don't know. I always made it very clear that I felt that the show was far more important than any one man.”

Regardless of what happened behind the scenes of GamesMaster, it was a massive success and although there have been many similar productions over the past decade, none have succeeded in the same way. Is there a future for videogames on TV? Perry certainly thinks so, as long as the people in charge change their perception of the average gamer: “The problem is that the audience has grown-up and commissioning editors can't get their heads around that. They still want games TV to be formatted for kids. They don't understand that gaming is no longer the sole domain of the under-20s. Once someone embraces that, then you will get a TV show capable of being even bigger and more influential than GamesMaster. But while we continue to churn out the kind of drivel that has largely leaked onto our screens over the last couple of years it is little wonder that TV bosses continue to view the hobby with such disdain.”

After such a long and fruitful partnership, it’s hardly surprising that Perry has some fond memories the show, including one unlikely request made by one of the guest celebrities: “2 Unlimited turned up to film their bit on series three and Ray Slijngaard, looking the worse for wear asked one of the show's runners if he could get him some 'weed'. Being Dutch he couldn't see any harm in the request and someone had to quickly brief him on marijuana laws in the UK.”

Amusing requests for recreational drugs aside, Perry is justifiably proud to be associated with such a groundbreaking show. “The thing about GamesMaster was that we were the innovators,” he comments. “We were sat at the very vanguard of games television and we doing things that nobody had ever thought possible before. It was a very exciting time for gaming. Everything was still new and there was a real buzz surrounding the hobby, so what did we do? We went and built an arcade inside of an old church, and filled it with dry ice, lasers and celebrities. We knew we were making history, what we didn't know was just how influential we would be.”

On set

Filming took place for my slot in August 1993, thankfully during the only free time I had as I was then between finishing my yearlong temp job and then starting uni in October. Although my piece was not aired until November 1993 there were several different pieces all filmed in that one day, and all used in different episodes. It was definitely not a case of filming one episode's worth at a time; it was all over the place.

Having gotten up really early and probably kipping in the car, it was off to Oxford and the majesty of the disused prison. As many people know however, a decision to reopen it was taken about a month or two after my filming and hence half the third series ended up somewhere else. This place was literally the highest-tech prison facility you would find at the time, there were cables absolutely everywhere, you couldn't move for them in some places. The main filming I think took place in the central inmates building, whilst people who were waiting around for their time to come were in either one of two separate outhouses. From what I recall, I flitted about between both during the day as need be. As my piece was the last one to be filmed that day, I got to see probably more stuff away from the cameras than most.

So who was also there that day? Well celebrity-wise I remember Paul Whitehouse, pre-Fast Show days, who couldn't stop talking and when he wasn't talking, he was smoking. As soon as one was finished, another one would be lit up. He had plenty of stories to tell, so most people there were usually laughing a lot. Also on set were Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis who ended up playing the "Lucky and Wild" coin-op machine for a challenge. Again they were both just chilling out and chatting away, so as The Mary Whitehouse Experience second series had finished over a year ago, I wondered if there would be any more. Sadly not, came the reply from both of them.

There was also the person I would be playing my challenge against: Liam Botham. I guess I'd drawn the short straw in terms of what game I would be playing (Graham Gooch's Test Match Cricket) but on the other hand, I could still win via my opponent cocking up royally instead of having to defeat myself (or the computer) if you see what I mean. Practice games went roughly 50-50 between us in the hour or so we had a go at the game, an Amiga setup in one of the outhouses, the same one Paul Whitehouse was liberally turning into a smoking den.

Whilst not hob-nobbing with the stars, the rest of my time was confined to the other outhouse which most of the non-celeb contestants were corralled into and kept. God knows why I was allowed to stray, maybe because I was the oldest one of them on set (19) and I would behave myself! The rest of the time was spent honing my Street Fighter II Turbo skills via the game cartridge I'd brought to occupy myself. Seemingly everyone else wanted to join in too. I was to find out why about halfway into the day; one of the challenges being filmed was actually on the game. I vaguely recall them having a problem with the cart they had and asking to borrow mine for filming! I don't know if they actually did use it or not, one of those "guess I'll never know" things.

Having been there since about 10am, I think my filming eventually commenced at around 5pm in the evening. Dexter boomed the announcements over the mic and I strode into shot, followed by Liam afterwards. Down the stairs to the main area where Dex shook both our hands and then "cut". Aside from the actual challenge itself, which was done in one take, most of the other shots associated with the challenge required 2-3 goes to get them right. On the fringes of the main area where all the cameras were, the crowd watching (and yelling, and shouting, and swearing) were either on the balcony area overlooking the set or behind a giant net screen to keep them from encroaching.

Between takes, Dex quite often would fire the crowd up, get them in good voice, tell a few gags and generally keep the ambiance at an elevated level. He could definitely work the audience that's for sure. All whilst no doubt being shouted at in his ear with the directions for the next shot. I can't remember who was co-commentating on my challenge at all, though I'm pretty sure it wasn't Dave Perry. That would have been fun to meet the bandana wearer himself. I'm pretty sure he was there on the location that day however.

So the challenge began. I lost the toss and got lumbered with England and Liam played as Australia. The battle was one over each, to score more runs than the other. I got off to a terrific start by not scoring from my first three balls, and then managing to get nine from the other three. Because cricket is as cricket does, it did make for a calculating watching experience, trying to figure out what was going to happen next ball, instead of the usual frantic nature of challenges on the show.

After swapping bat for ball, Liam scored 5 off his opening two. Not great. I then managed to limit him to two singles and then got someone out on the fifth ball. The tension really was mounting now, my heart was racing and I struggled to keep composure under pressure. Last ball came in, and he wafted it away on the offside and started running. His men managed to complete one run before coming back for a second to tie, just as the ball was coming to the keeper for the swat at the bails...

Frankly I'm not certain what happened next, or even sure I will be. The ball did collide with the bails but no one could quite work out if the batsmen had made it back or not. Not even the game decided to cough up that information as something happened in the back and the screen confirming either way got missed. For the next ten minutes, I think there was a bit of conference backstage as to what to do because they didn't think they had enough time left to refilm the entire challenge, and there's no way you could reset it properly back to how it had been before.

In the end, however way they came to the decision, they choose that I had indeed run the batsmen out and had won by one run. Victory was mine, and a gold-painted stick-in-a-glass-box entered my possession. Copious cheering followed (including if I recall, my brother going a bit nuts on the sideline) and we left the same way we came, in a swirl of artificial smoke and manic noise.

I've still got the stick, sitting in a cupboard here at home. I have no idea how many others still exist but the guy who used to run the GamesMaster website told me upon finding me online that he'd only tracked down two others by that point. And no, it won't be eBayed either! Now if anyone tracks down the episode in question with me in it, then enjoy some glorious embarrassment in poise, speech and appearance. Proud to have the stick, but oh if I knew then what I know now, I would have been soooo different...