Another game show which, like Knightmare, was seen on CITV in the 1980s and 1990s (1989-1999 to be precise) and later repeated on Challenge. Notable for its catchy theme song, gunge-ridden games, go-kart races and the final round in the eponymous funhouse.

Knightmare and Fun House both made the top three in the CITV website's 2004 poll of the 'best ever CITV gameshow'. However, Fun House has particularly caught the attention of Knightmare fans because, as Knightmare.com creator Illusion once explained on the website's forum, '[it] was always shown in Jan-Mar each year at the same timeslot as Knightmare. But when Knightmare finished they moved it to Sep-Dec'. In many KM fans' minds, Fun House 'replaced' Knightmare, and for this reason has been vilified by them - with particular derision directed at presenter Pat Sharp, who sported a notorious mullet hairstyle for a number of years. The following comments by forum members attest to this (though many may have disliked it for reasons unrelated to its rescheduling):

'I hated Fun House >:(' - Gerz

'i can not tell u how much i hate fun house.' - Mephistopheles

'I never used to watch it myself. I do recall the resentment I felt, though, in September 1995 looking through the TV listings... >:(' - Malefact

'Fun House - the epitome of all that was terrible about kids tv for sure.' - Asteroid

'Fun house is pretty naff, even back in the day it was a horrible excuse for a game show.' - wombstar

'I guess you could say it's an 'in' Knightmare private joke to hate funhouse' - RoxxAtherton, Knightmare Back-Up

Many fans would simply post general protests and negative exclamations whenever Fun House or Pat Sharp were mentioned. It culminated in Fidjit posting an assertion in 2009 that 'Fun House was ... was really the shows alter-ego. And partially the reason why Knightmare ended up six feet under. Which is why we (or most of us at least) hate it.' This led Drassil to clarify that Fidjit 'does not speak for all of us'. Indeed, numerous Knightmare fans have taken a more rational approach, and plenty count themselves as Fun House fans:

'In terms of the Mulleted one's show replacing Knightmare in the Friday Slot, if it wasn't Funhouse it would be something else. It didn't just suddenly appear outta nowhere, it had been running for a few years previous to KM's demise, from at least 1990 I think and so it didn't replace Knightmare as such.' - Debz G

'I would like to see Fun House back, I am glad they replaced KM with that rather than the nonsense they have on these days.' - Kieran

'Fun House isn't that bad, not unless you are moronic enough to hold a grudge against it for taking Knightmare's slot years ago.' - KM Fan

'Fun House was a class show. Not in the league of Knightmare, mind you, but it did seem like fun to be on - never mind what you think of the presenter, I thought he was OK for the role of presenter.' - Pooka

'Well, I loved FunHouse to be honest ... I'm afriad all my vengence goes on Virtually Impossible, because that was of the genre that was supposed to replace KM, and it was such a dire effort.' - KaM

'I loved Fun House when I was younger, it was a right laugh' - Brangwen

'Fun House was...'zany', but not as good as Knightmare (fairly obviously, otherwise I'd be on a Fun house forum now :D) ... Cracking programme.' - FrightKnight

'I loved Funhouse as much as i loved Finder Keepers [i.e. Finders Keepers] & terror towers but all these where second place compared to Knightmare.' - Fear [See: Lord Fear]

'I liked Fun House, if only because that's where I saw my first mullet and realised it was the style for me.' - dark Descender

One fan of Knightmare was even able to find Knightmare.com through being a Fun House fan:

'I was looking up Fun House on the internet, and somehow stumbled onto this, and everything came flooding back.' - Thelpher

In more recent years, the in-joke referred to by RoxxAtherton has evolved from simply hating Fun House and Pat Sharp to referring to them gratuitiously and humorously. Much of this is thanks to the efforts of Billy Hicks. The inclusion of Fun House in Interactive Story #2 was likewise intended to be constructive. It turns out not to have been the last such fanfic crossover: in 2010, Dan the Countdowner (a.k.a. Dan the Spellcaster) and Natter45 wrote a full-length script featuring Knightmare characters in an episode of Fun House. It can be read here.

As an April Fool's Day joke in 2006, Knightmare Chat was renamed Fun House Chat for a brief time.

On 25th May 2012, Fun House and Knightmare once again crossed paths at fans' instigation, at the May Sandpit 2012 event hosted by Hide&Seek in London. Participants in the 'You're In A Room' game devised Dungeon levels for other teams to navigate, and one of these was a 'Fun House Dungeon', featuring a representation of Pat Sharp (denoted by his sign, 'PAT SHARP APPEARS').


In November 2012, Knightmare and Fun House fan WatcherMark made a video about the latter, Remembering Fun House, which can be seen on his YouTube channel here.

The 2012 TV documentary 30 Years of CITV covered Fun House immediately after a section on Knightmare. On both January 5th and January 6th 2013, Fun House was followed by Knightmare on channel CITV as part of its Old Skool Weekend of Children's ITV repeats. Many Knightmare fans will have had no problem at all with this - nor with the showing of Knightmare immediately after Fun House on Challenge from May 2013.

In January 2013, Fun House won a Radio Times website poll of favourite classic CITV shows, with Knightmare in second place.

Knightmare Live's show at the Brierley Hill Civic Hall on 8th March 2018 featured, as a prize, a cut-out of Pat Sharp's head on a stick.

[Photo credit: Tim Manveille

Earlier version of this entry provided on: 2011-07-05 17:16:06]

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Fun house was another CITV gameshow, which was first aired in the late 80's, and was in production for over a decade. Hosted by Pat Sharp, with a little help from cheerleaders Melanie and Martina, the show was very popular and was based on the original US format.

The show began with 3 games of gunge and mayhem, then there was the GO-Kart round, and finally the fun house itself. The fun house was a 'play area' style multi-story world of madness, where the contestant must collect tokens, and also hope to grab the power prize token, enabling them to go on to play the final (a single question that won teams prizes such as days out, more expensive items etc).

Fun House had its final series in 1999, after falling ratings. Many Knightmare Fans dislike this show, due to the fact that when Knightmare ended in 1994, the Friday Afternoon timeslot was used for the next series of Fun House.

A Good resource for Fun House can be found here along with US Fun House information

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"Fun House... it's a whole lot of fun, with prizes to be won, It's a real crazy show where anything can go.
Fun House... it's a quiz, it's a race, a real wacky place, Use your body and your brain if you wanna win the game."

Well, that sums it up really...

Actually, no it doesn't, this was another of CITV's sucessful shows that filled the void left by Knightmare on a Friday. Hosted by Pat Sharp and featured the cheerleading twins of Melanie and Martina Grant. The Show ran from 1990 to 1999.

See UK Gameshows Site for a whole lot of more details...

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