GamesMaster: The Oral History

by Dominik Diamond, Jack Templeton (Editor)

The definitive history of the iconic ‘90s videogame TV show, written by host Dominik Diamond.

GamesMaster: An Oral History charts the highs and lows of Channel 4’s anarchic UK videogames entertainment show. Guided by show host Dominik Diamond and with a foreword by one-time games playing champion Robbie Williams, GamesMaster: An Oral History features over forty contributors including production crew, celebrity guests and the games-playing members of the public who became either playground heroes or defeated outcasts vying for the iconic Golden Joystick prize.

Spanning seven chapters covering each of the show’s distinctly themed series, the book documents the instant and phenomenal success of the show, the creativity behind its inception, and the ups and downs experienced behind the scenes. The lineup includes: Dominik Diamond (show host), Jane Hewland (executive producer), Jonny Ffinch (producer), Dave ‘Games Animal’ Perry (commentator), Richard Wilcox (researcher), Robbie Williams, Pat Sharp, Vic Reeves, Uri Geller, John Regis MBE, Paul McKenna, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, Zig and Zag, and many more.

First broadcast in 1992 amid a brash youth television takeover, the ambitious and sometimes chaotic production of GamesMaster is also a story of the 1990s, set against a backdrop of videogame console wars, Britpop, and a curious new thing called the World Wide Web.

Genres: Games, History

312 pages, Hardcover

Published October 6, 2022

Reviews

[Tony Cottam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Be warned, this book will make you want to seek out old episodes of this and watch them all. They say some books are warts and all, this book shows that even the warts have warts, and reveals where they were. A must read if you were a gamer in the 90s

[Phoenix Phil Morley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received this as a surprise but welcome stocking filler at Xmas from my brother. I loved the first couple of seasons of Gamesmaster but my love waned a little during the Dexter Fletcher fronted third season and I only have vague memories of the later seasons when Dominik Diamond returned (though I remember the big moments like the Whigfield proposal) where I think stuff like college and young adulting probably impacted my viewing habits. That being said, this book took me right back to the 1990s where the rise and fall of the Cool Britannia zeitgeist is used as a back drop the strange journey of the show and those involved in making it.

Dominik Diamond acts as the primary narrator in a frank and candid manner which, for better or worse, gives an honest insight into the man himself (you’ll likely be entertained and infuriated in equal measures). Rather wonderfully, space is given to a whole range of others to voice their takes on a situation giving each anecdote an alternate take to try and bring a little balance (especially handy with DD’s CITV rival Violet Berlin getting an opportunity tackling the escalating sexism and lad culture in the show and Dave Perry being allowed to explain his side of the story). Speaking of which, elephants in the room such as the ill-fated third series with Dexter Fletcher and the legendary on screen Christmas special bust up between Diamond and Perry are tackled thoughtfully and thoroughly.

The thing I enjoyed most is that unlike a lot other biographies or behind the scenes books which don’t deliver is the way it’s unafraid to talk shop, you’ll get to learn all kinds of stuff about how much (or little) the hosts were getting paid, reasons why sets and props were changed, creative decisions and such like. It’s also nice that everyone comments on these changes expressing what they felt worked and what didn’t.

It’s also a rather depressing reminder that television used to be an exciting, wild, free flowing unpredictable landscape in the 1990s especially on Channel 4 but by the mid 00’s had become a bland quagmire of Saturday Kitchens and One Shows from which it’s unlikely to ever claw its way out of.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for a walk down memory lane and/or a book about the inner workings of Gamesmaster this’ll give you everything you want and more.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Gamesmaster when i was a kid, I watched almost every episode and now they are all online to watch again, which i occasionally do. I still love my old video games.

So, I really enjoyed this book. It is pacy, easy to read, and fun. It never drags or gets dull; in fact it seems they struggled to fit in as much as they did and probably had to leave a lot out. But everything you want to read about is covered really well, I was left with no unanswered questions and I got through it very quickly. The fact that it's all in an interview style makes it very natural and conversational and I like that.

It is also very well presented, with a few sections of photos that are interestingly captioned.
Highly recommended.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply the best. Better than all the rest.

[Jehane Penfold-Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got exactly what I wanted out of this book, which was a heavy dose of nostalgia for a show I loved when I was a kid. You’ll likely find it very entertaining if you did too. Now all I need is a Knightmare book and I’ll be set :-)

[Martin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book. Which is quite possibly a very banal statement - who reads any book not wanting to love it? But I was convinced to pick it up after (belatedly) listening to the Under Consoletation podcast, which was very enthusiastic about its production and so I was, belatedly, excited too. But while I liked it, I didn’t love it. This is a very honest history of the show from Dominik Diamond’s perspective, but I feel the podcast did better in regards to getting other perspectives of being involved with the show - like the team challenge captain who was physically threatened by an opponent off-camera; failed contestant applicant Guru Larry; Paul Rose, who was briefly a reviewer on the show but didn’t fall into Dom’s circle of mates that dominated the later seasons - and more in-depth comments from contestants. The book’s also kinda slight on the details of the show. There were various points on the podcast, between the book’s announcement and publication, where there’d be some odd moment or element in an episode and they’d say “hopefully we’ll find out about that in the book” and more often than not you don’t. The book is about the show, but it doesn’t go into much depth on most aspects of it. Most challenges aren’t mentioned and the few that are usually only rate one quote. Still, as Dom’s story, which is arguably the most important thing about GamesMaster (and Dom would be the first person to argue that) it is an interesting, honest reflection on both the show and a slice of the 90s.

And yet, there are two elements of this book which are needlessly aggravating to different degrees. The minor one is that all the captions for the photo sections are rotated 90° for seemingly no reason. There’s plenty of space for them to have been the right way around, but no, pointlessly awkwardly placed so you have to keep rotating the book it is.

The other, bigger issue, one that has knocked the score down, is that pretty much every quote here is attributed to only initials rather than the contributor’s name. Cue lots of flipping back through pages (which are weirdly coarse and thick and not easy to leaf through) trying to find the first quote from TT or SC or whoever to remember who the hell they are. God help you if you stop mid-chapter and leave it for a couple of days. And what makes this more annoying is that it’s completely unnecessary. The quote passages are all heavily indented leaving an absolutely massive gutter into which everyone’s name could easily fitted. Someone chose to make the reading experience of this book worse and more obtuse for what can presumably only be stylistic reasons (and not even valid ones, frankly).

The book ends up feeling torn between being an autobiography of Dominik Diamond and an actual history of the show. It adequately does both, but maybe would have been better as one or the other.

[Justin Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never seen an episode of GamesMaster, but this is the most fun I’ve had reading a book in quite sometime. It’s a great behind the scenes look at what it takes to make a very strange TV show — everything from designing opening titles, dealing with the difficult personalities of contestants and crew, and the network’s unintentional renewal of it got an unplanned final season that left the production company scrambling to throw something together.

It’s edited impeccably. I’m shocked at the number of minor characters Jack Templeton managed to get quotes from to fill in the gaps of the story: a hated host who took over for one season, contestants who were only on screen for a few minutes, crew members that left on bad terms. It’s kind of mind boggling how he managed to get interviews with all these people, and the book paints an incredibly rich picture from multiple angles thanks to those voices.

It’s also very funny. I kept picking this book up and reading a few pages, having a good laugh at some short story of chaos about filmmaking, then walking away feeling satisfied before returning a week later.

Host Dominik Diamond narrates most of the book and reflects a lot on how the show inflated his ego and fueled an addiction to cocaine. Yet he never lets the story get too sad, as his bloated ego and coke-fueled brain led to some very entertaining stories. It sounds like the show was the most fun he’s ever had while also being incredibly destructive to him personally. The fact that he reflects on all of this with honesty, admitting his many faults, was really refreshing.

I don’t know if there’s another oral history book out there about filmmaking like this. It’s just top notch front to back.

[Colin Wheatley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of me wants to give this a higher rating (not that these ratings are objective or matter that much anyway), but I think if I did it would be because of nostalgia, because I loved GamesMaster when I was growing up and it’s great to hear insights and background details from all the people involved. I’m just not crazy about the format, with the mix of Dominik Diamond’s autobiographical narration and all the inserts for others. The use of initials instead of full names also makes it confusing to read at times and a bit disembodied. I know that seems like a minor complaint, but I didn’t know who was talking half the time. If you were a fan of GamesMaster in the 90s, then you need to read it anyway and will want to rewatch the old episodes as you do.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest and exhaustive, led by Dominic Diamond’s voice but with a huge supporting cast. Manages to be an entertaining behind the scenes book and still capture of feel of the early ‘90s culture that the show was at the crest of - even the steady shifts and changes in that mood over that short but memorable few years. An essential book about ‘90s gaming in Britain, obviously.

[John Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brutally honest insight into one the greatest videogames tv show ever.

[Gotbadger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest look at a 90s legendary show. Very entertaining.

[Christopher Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

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