From TES issue 16 (July 2002)

Series 3/4/5. Level 1/2/3.
SKULL GHOSTS
  Although they spent only a relatively short period of time in the Dungeon, the floating skulls represent to me a lot of what made Knightmare such an excellent programme: their lingering sense of threat - despite being unqualified by details of exactly what danger they presented - was very disconcerting, and seemed to personify the obscure and clearly supernatural challenge that the Dungeon offered. The grinning translucent skulls would slip in and out of chambers all through the three levels, chattering their teeth menacingly and emitting ghostly wailing noises. The only clue we were given as to their origin came from Hordriss in series 4:
 
"One does so despise those lingering traces of violent death" - Hordriss.
 
I suppose that is partly why these particular creatures were so unnerving: with such scant information about them, it was up to us to speculate what kind of violent deaths might leave such a lingering trace, and just what these shades wanted from dungeoneers. As far as I can tell, their mission was to feed on life force, presumably as they had none of their own, being dead. These creatures were therefore not intended to be fatal to dungeoneers, but as a hint to the advisors that the time was right to leave the chamber, in order to avoid the threatening presence looming overhead. This does not mean that skull ghosts were not lethal, however, as prolonged contact caused extreme damage to life force.
 
Remember poor Scott from series 3, blundering about level two on the wrong path and having missed the first step? The general confusion and tension of the situation were exacerbated by Scott's dangerously low life force as he entered Merlin's room, having been touched by a large green skull ghost on the bridge. While we are on the subject of colours, the vast majority of skull ghosts were white, but some in series 3 were green or even blue! Anyway, moving on to series 5, Sarah had a brush with a shade while trying to open Merlin's Magic Box, wherein lay a vital spell. Having just restored her energy in the inn with Sylvester Hands, her life force was healthy, but had practically run out in the next room thanks to the ghost. Thank goodness there was a pineapple there to put things right. So, I guess the skull ghosts were mainly a scare device, but woe betide the foolish dungeoneer who stuck around with one for too long.
  Fear Factor: 8 I found them very unnerving, yet excitingly so.
Killer Instinct: 2 I blame one partly for the confused rush leading up to Scott's tragic leap into oblivion.
Humanity: 7 It was certainly a human skull; maybe even a previous dungeoneer.
Gore Factor: 4 Just how violent were those deaths? We'll never know.

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