From
TES issue 44 (March 2007)
Series 2/3.
Level 1.
THE
DUNGEON KITCHEN
This was a fairly standard medieval room to include in the early series, and it has proved, in my experience at least, to be a very memorable one. The Dungeon Kitchen had a blue-tiled floor, two doors on the far wall, a large dresser on the left wall, and a kitchen range with a blazing
fire on the right wall. The room made several appearances in series 2, sometimes featuring characters trying out their very limited culinary skills, such as
Gretel's attempt to cook a pot of
toads, and
Folly's very messy recipe that involved pouring flour all over the floor! The kitchen did not appear to belong to anyone in particular, although Gretel revealed at one point that
Mildread was not supposed to go in there, which is hardly surprising. I always found this room very memorable; it has the honour of being one of the very few rooms I remembered during the seven years (between 1989 and 1996) when series 1, 2, and 3 were nothing but a distant, glorious memory to me.
The kitchen was back for series 3, although the large dresser had been replaced with a third door, and much of the kitchen range seemed to have disappeared! However, despite the fact that the room was visually less pleasing in this series, it made several appearances, often containing a useful item of freshly-baked
food for the
dungeoneer. Ownership of the kitchen was allotted to
Mrs. Grimwold in this series, although the old
witch herself only made one appearance in the room. It was more usual to meet
Motley and/or
Mellisandre in the kitchen, although
Velda was also seen in there on one occasion. One of my favourite lines from
Knightmare (yes, I remembered it word-for-word during those seven long years, although I was sure that Motley had said it) was Mellisandre's comment to Cliff about the
Grimwolds' ownership of the kitchen: "Mrs. Grimwold, she doesn't like people in her kitchen, and Mr.
Grimwold... well, he just doesn't like people! Oh dear, he's here!" - Mellisandre. Ah, classic!
Difficulty: 4 Depends entirely on the circumstances!
Killer Instinct: 0 Nothing fatal occurred in this room.
Gore Factor: 0 As above.
Fairness: 10 A very nice Dungeon room to include.