Cornets blow. Flags flutter. Rowan Atkinson emerges, dressed in Blackadder-style faux-medieval finery: “We call forth the mighty from this and many lands to compete in games whose grandeur, glory, and overwhelming silliness will be forever remembered.”
‘It’s a Royal Knockout’ had begun. The monarchists among us must hope that Atkinson’s prediction was off the mark and that most have forgotten the Windsors’ 1987 foray into gameshowggedon.
In the show, four teams made up of a shower of celebrities (including Meat Loaf, Chris de Burgh, John Travolta, Cliff Richard, Gary Lineker and John Cleese) were led by members of the royal family (Anne, Andrew, Edward and Fergie) as they competed in an assault course of 1980s slapstick game show challenges while dressed as jesters, chess pieces and knights.
