Weaver's Week 2026-07-12

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The producer and studio owner Malcolm Heyworth has died. He was 83.

Malcolm was the producer of three era-defining game shows: Treasure Hunt (2) for Channel 4, Interceptor for Thames, and The Crystal Maze for Channel 4. He was also the co-owner of Chatsworth Television, the independent production house which made all three shows.

Heyworth's career in film began in the mid-60s, making shorts Albert Carter, Q.O.S.O. and The Undertakers. He'd go on to produce a number of low-budget films, including horror film The Blood on Satan's Claw and an adaptation of children's classic Black Beauty.

Working with Peter Holmans (director of The Sky's the Limit and other light entertainment), Chatsworth Television was set up in 1973. In its early years, the company specialised in corporate and educational films. The breakthrough into entertainment came in 1981, with the darts show Bullseye.

Iiiin one! Jim Bowen, an animated bull, darts, throwers and knowers, the prize board, nothing in this game for two in a bed, and a speedboat to take back to your tower block in Aston.

Behind the bonhomie, underneath the familiar trappings, Bullseye was a solid and utterly reliable show. Jim and scorer Tony Green were rooting for the contestants, wanted them to do well, shared their joy or disappointment at the final result. It shows how difficult darts is to do well, and it asks us whether a set of nesting tables is more valuable than a cut-glass decanter.

As with all formats, it took a bit of getting right, the first series is very weird and many regular features aren't quite in place till a few years in. Even tonight, if you turn on the Challenge channel at the right time, you're sure to see well-researched questions, good darts skills, and prizes ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Chatsworth had done quite a lot of work behind the scenes to get the format of Bullseye into good shape, and got an "in association with" credit for much of the show's run. What came from Chatsworth, and from Malcolm Heyworth personally? That is lost to the mists of time, we've heard various claims and counter-claims across the years. Certainly, by 1990 Bullseye was described as being co-produced with PHI Television, the company formed by the show's producer Peter Holmans.

A year later, Chatsworth made Treasure Hunt (2) for Channel 4. Of all the programmes, this is their masterpiece. It's a version of a French show, but so thoroughly localised as to be completely British.

Anneka Rice flies through the air with the greatest of ease, while Dominic and Geraldine Verynicepeople in the studio – nimbly assisted by Kenneth Kendall – solve cryptic clues to direct her journey. Wincey Willis keeps time, plots the course on a map, and chats while the contestants think.

As the show developed, it got much more ambitious – Anneka's asked to invade the stage, dive into the Jersey seas, abseil down into a Swiss waterfall, and joust with knights. Softly and quietly, Treasure Hunt showed off the island of Britain to itself – there's barely a corner of the country that didn't feel the whirr of Annie's copter, and many unusual occupations and pastimes were shown to the viewers.

Treasure Hunt was also quietly feminist. It would have been easy for the producers to cast a James Bond character as their action man, flying into places, doing crazy stuff, then leaving. But they picked an action woman, taking control of her life, doing the crazy stuff, and sometimes telling the stuffy old bloke in the studio where to go. Lest we forget, in the early 1980s there was no role model for this kind of thing, women were either sober newsreaders like Sue Lawley, or prize decoration like on Sale of the Century.

Treasure Hunt also used the latest technology. The whole programme insisted on helicopters, little aircraft that could fly everywhere and land anywhere. Sound and video were recorded on location, and Anneka carried a little backpack so she could talk to headquarters – via another 'chopper flying just above them. As the series progressed, they asked Anneka to do more daring stunts, they got the clues settled into a particular style, and the technology got so much better.

Anneka Rice was the face of Treasure Hunt, and she worked with Malcolm Heyworth to devise Challenge Anneka. Chatsworth made the first edition, an all-day quest to construct an orchestra that would play the "1812 overture" in a barge on the Thames to support Children in Need. The stunt was audacious and ambitious, it could have gone wrong in so many ways, and it was almost a surprise when Anneka completed the task. Challenge Anneka was picked up for a series; fellow independents Mentorn took over production, because Chatsworth had other fish to fry.

One of their ideas was Interceptor, a high-tech game of tag with the most over-the-top villain. It only ran for one series in summer 1989; direct descendants include the "Challenge Anna" episode of KYTV, indirect children include Channel 4's recent The Hunt: Prey Versus Predator.

Channel 4 came back to the well for The Crystal Maze, very loosely based on the proposed show The Keys to Fort Boyard, which was still under construction. With the Fort not ready, they built a series of fantasy chambers at a studio in Kent, and invited people to test themselves against the challenges. Yuppies tried to work their way around a mirror maze, or drive a magnetic space shuttle from underneath, or cross a rotating log without falling into the water.

Richard O'Brien from The Rocky Horror Picture Show hosted, and kicked down the fourth wall and brought us into the maze alongside him. He knew exactly what we were shouting at the telly, and subtly voiced it in his camp and sarcastic manner.

The Crystal Maze went out in the old Treasure Hunt slot on Thursday nights, and proved just as big a hit. As the years passed, the budgets went up, the quality of the games went right up, and the contestants made better telly. Richard left after four years, replaced by Ed Tudor-Pole; we would have loved Ed if we saw him first, but nobody could replace Richard in our hearts.

Chatsworth made other shows, too. Operation Julie was a mini-series about a police undercover drugs investigation, and was a distinct hit when shown in 1985. Much later, Mortimer's Law was a primetime drama series starring Amanda Root as a strong-headed London barrister who gave up a lucrative career and became a coroner in rural Wales.

Wine Hunt was a little entertainment for Channel 4, in which teams of amateur wine lovers went to different wine-growing regions of France. There, they took challenges designed to test their talents; this also educated viewers about wine and how to spot a good one. Chatsworth's final major drama production was Happy Together, shown on ITV at the start of 2002; two childhood friends are reunited after 30 years.

The company also made documentaries. A Tribal Odyssey was a four-part series about the lives, customs and rituals of some of the most remote tribes in the world. And Ghosts of the Killing Fields, a one-part documentary looking at a Cambodian tribe whose lives and culture were nearly destroyed by the Vietnam War.

Chatsworth Television had a small business selling other company's shows around the world: Chatsworth Television Distributors was set up in 1976, and specialised in drama, light entertainment, documentaries, and children’s programming. In 1986 the company set up a dedicated licensing facility, Chatsworth Enterprises, hoping to capitalise on the successes of Chatsworth Television's own productions and to exploit fully their commercial potential.

The Crystal Maze came to an end in 1995, after six full series; perhaps there was another run in there, perhaps the cast and crew were looking for a fresh challenge. Chatsworth pitched The Magic Carnival to Channel 4, from little teases leaked to the press it sounded like an adventure in fairyland and the sort of thing we really wanted to see. Never got the chance; The Magic Carnival was not picked up by C4.

The ashes of Chatsworth's website offer tantalising glimpses of other formats. Bet Your Brain, a half hour entertainment format combining the fun of betting with general knowledge quiz. The Line, a team expedition that travels 200 miles across Britain as the crow flies – quite literally up over mountains, buildings and across rivers. Pressure Dome, a half hour entertainment format involving a high pressure Q & A event in which contestants reveal how well they know their partners.

Chatsworth stayed in business, they had set up the post-production studio Fusion to handle editing and sound dubbing and all the behind-the-scenes stuff that turns good film into great shows. The company made two series of Treasure Hunt for BBC2 in the early aughts, Busy Buses and Space Lunies for pre-school viewers. They also made a show called Jukebox for the new Channel 5.

In its final years, Chatsworth became a player in children's television. Cross Combat was a studio-based physical show, somewhere between Noughts-and-Crosses and Twister, and ending with a "Megarun" for the day's prize. Sir Gadabout, a comedy drama starring Jason Thorpe, Kim Wall as King Arthur, Tamsin Egerton; it was a BAFTA Children's winner for Best Writer (Alex Williams), and nominee for Best Drama.

Chatsworth was, effectively, wound up when Malcolm Heyworth retired in 2006. He remained active, consulting on The Crystal Maze Live; posterity does not record if he actually won a time crystal.

Malcolm Heyworth supported new and emerging shows. He commented in 2000 that he believed television had found its raison d'etre in shows like Big Brother. "TV is extremely well suited to the study of life and people," he said. "I can understand why a broadcaster would prefer to air these shows than expensive dramas which aren't guaranteed to get better ratings."

Malcolm Heyworth made great television. He will be missed.

KY-I-TV The worst-kept secret in finance has finally been confirmed. Sky has agreed to buy ITV's television network for £1600 million (€ 1,87md). The merger would move ITV's channels under the control of Sky's owners NBC Universal.

ITV Studios will not be part of the merger. The production arm makes shows as diverse and popular as University Challenge, Coronation Street, and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. As part of the deal, ITV Studios will acquire Love Productions (Bake Off and more) as a £200mn side-deal to the acquisition.

Sky has struck an output deal with ITV Studios until 2032, giving ITV Studios certainty over the ongoing production of its many hit series. Coronation Street will not be shown first on pay-tv.

The takeover will doubtless have to clear many regulatory approvals, no doubt the politicians will be obsessed with the news channels they watch, and not the shows the public watch. There is also hope that the deal will inject some fresh energy into Sky, which is somewhat been treading water in the past few years. But we don't expect any significant changes for some months, not while the Whitehall pontificators cogitate.

A fair few new shows this week. Quizzy Monday returns, with Mastermind, Only Connect (2), and University Challenge (BBC2, Mon). The Chase Around the World takes pairs of players to international cities (ITV, Thu), and Around the World in 80 Ways is the last in what's been an agreeable set of Radio 4 quiz pilots (Sun). Pleasant viewing as The Piano plinks back (C4, Sun), Sewing Bee returns (BBC1, Tue or Wed) and The Bidding Room is antiques discussion (BBC1, weekdays). More cut-throat business as The Traitors Us concludes (BBC3, Thu), followed immediately by The Traitors Canada.

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