Richard O'Brien

Richard O'Brien (Born 25th March 1942) was the first presenter of The Crystal Maze from series 1 to Series 4 and made a cameo for the 1993 Xmas special and the 2016 Stand Up To Cancer Special.

Pre Crystal Maze Career
Born Richard Timothy Smith on the 25th March 1942 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. As there was another actor called Richard Smith, Richard changed his surname to O'Brien which was his mother's maiden name, and his mother's maiden surname indicates Irish ancestry.

The Crystal Maze 1990-1993
The Crystal Maze producers wanted someone who had not been in game shows before, and Richard was asked to star in a pilot for a British version of Fort Boyard. The pilot would not be ready in time but while in Paris, the makers got an idea to build 4 time zones with a crystal dome in the centre. They felt it was much more entertaining. So the Rocky Horror Show creator and playwright Richard O'Brien filmed his first scenes as the presenter of the new game show, The Crystal Maze in late 1989.

The new show proved to be an instant hit when it aired on Channel 4 in February 1990. Inbetween filming of the 1st and 2nd series, the maze moved to a disused aircraft hangar in North Weald, Essex. Aces High Studios, North Weald, Essex (Series 2 to 6).

Series 3 was filmed in November to December 1991. According to an interview, Richard O'Brien actually wanted to leave at the end of Series 3 as he did not want to keep being a game show host and wanted to go back to acting but he was persuaded to do one more series. Richard said "OK" and agreed to do one more series, the 4th series.

The 4th series was filmed throughout November and December 1992. The last episode of Series 4 did not give any indications that this was Richard's last episode but he did say "Stay well" at the end of the episode. The 1993 Christmas Special started with a pre credits scene where Richard announced his departure from the show. Ed Tudor Pole stepped on board as the new host. The Richard O'Brien days of The Crystal Maze were over, or so we thought.

Luckily for the fans, 23 years later, Richard would make a cameo for a Crystal Maze episode.

After The Crystal Maze
In 1994, Richard played The Ink Thief in the series The Ink Thief.

Return to The Crystal Maze 2016
In October 2016, 74 year old Richard O'Brien did a cameo as the computer in the Stand Up To Cancer episode. The scene was brief but fans got a glimpse of his face in The Crystal Maze, 23 years after he rode out of Medieval with Mumsey. In the brief cameo, Richard told the host Stephen Merchant to not mess the game up. Mumsey herself returned for the special.