From TES issue 52 (July 2008)

Series 7. Level 1/2.
FIDJIT
Be warned – I am slightly prejudiced against Fidjit, as he was the intended replacement for Motley, one of my favourite characters, and I really do feel that Knightmare would have been better off if he’d never existed at all. Having said that, I really have nothing against Fidjit, particularly – I just think he should have been Motley, that’s all. Paul Valentine, of course, played Fidjit, in addition to Sylvester Hands in this particular series, meaning that Paul Valentine is the only Knightmare actor to appear in a series of Knightmare not playing at least one of the characters he had played during his first series.

Fidjit was a thief and locksmith, and his accent suggested that he came from Yorkshire. Lord Fear found Fidjit’s presence in the Dungeon somewhat irksome, as he went around picking the locks at the ends of levels. This habit of Fidjit’s could be quite useful to dungeoneers, although the gruff, short-tempered thief was by no means a member of the Powers that Be, and would help dungeoneers only if they helped him first. Like Motley, he had a tentative romance going on with Sidriss, although in this case, Sidriss was the one who seemed keener on pursuing the relationship, unlike her troublesome liaison with the absent, lovelorn jester.

Perhaps Fidjit’s best appearance, and certainly his longest, was with Alex, the third dungeoneer of the series. Fidjit had been transformed into a giant toad (possibly by Sidriss, and for reasons never adequately explained) and he tasked Alex with finding a spell to turn him back. Alex’s RESTORE spell did the job, and Fidjit showed his gratitude by accompanying the dungeoneer to the end of level one and opening the door to Smirkenorff, which was a gesture he repeated later in the series when dungeoneer Ben released him from a pillory.

Fidjit’s final appearance was with Barry in level two, although he did not really get to engage in any banter with the notorious Smartbottom, and was really only on hand to unlock the door to the Fire Room. Maybe the character was slightly underused in the series, but the production team obviously decided (very wisely, if you ask me) to drop Fidjit for series 8 and bring back Motley, which was a very welcome development. Still, as I say, there was nothing really wrong with Fidjit – he’s just a completely forgettable character, and one that probably shouldn’t even have existed in the first place!
Fear Factor: 3 Very gruff and grumpy, but obviously not a real threat.
Killer Instinct: 1 I don’t think he was bothered either way, really.
Humour Rating: 2 Only joked with himself, never with dungeoneers.
Oscar Standard: 6 Well, he did the accent and he said the lines, but Paul Valentine never really looked very comfortable in the role.

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Screen name used by Knightmare fan Glenn Toogood. Previously known on the Knightmare.com Discussion Forum and Knightmare Back-Up as Motley, he switched from one Paul Valentine character name to another around May 2004. As he explained in October 2005, 'My ex-Forum name was Motley but Fidjit is more my character. I have his accent! (It's my nickname too!)' Fidjit has over 1770 Discussion Forum posts to his name.

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