This is whats changed between the original series of The Crystal Maze and Channel 4s new reboot…

The revived 90s gameshow received over 30,000 applications from the public, from which 15 teams were selected.

That lot join five celebrity teams tackling 41 new games in an initial series of 20 hour-long episodes.

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Filming the new series ofThe Crystal Maze, presenter Richard Ayoade keeps breaking his hand.

Its all the gesturing, you see.

Ayoades hand-stick is part of his slightly stand-offish Maze Master persona, were told.

How does he compare to his predecessors?

Its still very much him, Neale continues.

Five Savile Row suits have been designed for him in very flamboyant corduroy, we learn.

He has these ludicrous shirt and tie combinations.

Hes got gold lame boots and all variety of lunatic shoes, says Neale.

Casting teams instead of individuals has allowed some really interesting characters to come through, says Neale.

Not any longer, were assured.

Theres an RAF cadet team, an all-female football team, an all-deaf team, and lots of families.

Do the family teams ever fall out?

We did have one argument recently, says Neale.

Are we going to upset people if we do Mumsie?

Are we going to upset people if we dont do Mumsie?

Neale Simpson is recounting the deliberations over how to approachThe Crystal Mazes long-standing live-action character.

Should they revive the mazes fortune-teller character, or go for something entirely new?

Something entirely new was the answer.

Richard and Jarhead have such a great rapport.

Heres where Richard Ayoade plugs in a unit to activate the computer voice, he points out.

This bit all lights up and looks incredible, he says.

Heres the console platform thatwait for itactuallyspins.

It is and it does.

When its unveiled to the pack of journalists on our set visit, the oohs are audible.

The acoustics cant be very good in the Futuristic Zone.

Really no loss there.

We didnt want to copy anything.

Games have moved on, he explains.

Two and three-minute games twenty six years ago didnt have to work as hard as they have to today.

Weve got multi-layered games.

Our rooms are bigger.

Its all about moving things forward, he says.

We want to do new things and have ownership of it ourselves, whilst not upsetting people.

Its a tricky balance.

Some of the games have a nod to the past.

Among the new developments are games not a million miles away from what were used to.

you might still expect bags of sand, water rafts, hefty puzzles and dont-touch-the-floor to all feature.

Weve just had our first one, Neale says, with satisfaction.

The team then choose which member will tackle said category.

Presumably, this speeds things up, ensures a good variety of game types and avoids unnecessary faffing.

Its very different, says designer James Dillon.

The original dome was a 2 frequency dome and the new dome is a 3 frequency dome.

So it feels more like a giant version of the crystals that the contestants are playing for.

The dome itself was built by Solardome Industries who were the company involved in building the original.

Its now this incredible lightshow, says Neale.

The entire frame is covered in intelligent LEDs programmed to give very different light states.

The moat and drawbridge have gone, but you wont miss them.

The new dome, with lighting designed by Gurdip Mahal, is a thing of beauty.

Like everything about this new series, its been done with skill and love.

The Crystal Maze starts on Friday the 23rdof June at 9pm on Channel 4.