The costume designer for the original hit show version of Gladiators has revealed how the women on the series always asked him for the same three things – but his most demanding new client was in a league of her own.
Stephen Adnitt, who also created eye-catching clothing for Dame Edna Everage and Cilla Black, says the BBC’s new Gladiators reboot is clearly influenced by the costumes he first sketched out back in the early-Nineties.
But he remains amazed at just how successful the show became – while its popularity prompted the star performers to demand ever-skimpier outfits.
He told of being told when designing updated gear for the programmes: ‘Show more midriff, show more leg, show more cleavage.’
Mr Adnitt, 75, and from Whetstone in north London, has also taken responsibility for another eye-catchingly risque costume – worn not by a young Gladiator, but instead by his ‘demanding’ star client Cilla.
The Gladiator known as Blade, real name Bev Carter, was among those in action in 1995 during the series’ original run on ITV between 1992 and 2000 – in outfits designed by Stephen Adnitt
Diane Youdale became a nationwide favourite when appearing on the 1990s show as Jet
Stephen Adnitt has been speaking to Mail Online of his memories designing the costumes
Mr Adnitt designed an illuminated basque for the late Cilla Black to wear for a burleque routine at the 2001 Royal Variety Performance alongside Dame Barbara Windsor and Paul O’Grady
She wore an illuminated basque work at the 2001 Royal Variety Performance for a burlesque routine alongside Dame Barbara Windsor and Paul O’Grady.
It was based on a stripper-style routine from the Stephen Sondheim musical Gypsy.
He recalled: ‘The verse she had to sing was about lighting up, so we thought we’d have some fun with that – a lot of boob, crotch and bum.’
He had been Cilla’s designer since the early 1980s, including during her primetime TV dominance hosting Blind Date and Surprise Surprise.
He said: ‘I grew up listening to her music in the charts and then ended up working with her for about 40 years.
‘I liked her a lot. She could be quite demanding. She was definitely in charge. She would listen but if she didn’t necessarily like something, she would say.
‘When you’ve worked with someone as long as I did with Cilla, you get to know each other well and to know what they’ll be happy to do.’
Getting the Gladiators job for its eight-year ITV run in the 1990s presented different challenges – and he revealed his shock when first coming face to face with how immense the athletes taking part could be – forcing an instant wardrobe rethink.
Mr Adnitt has shared his first sketches for the costumes to be worn by performers called Cobra, Panther, Scorpio, Hunter and Wolf – though sometimes struggled to come up with the right logo when the latest names were handed down.
He still gets asked by people whether they can buy the originals, testament to the ongoing international appeal the BBC is now tapping into with their new version.
Stephen says Lightning, real name Kim Betts, was among the athletes whose logo became trickier to fit the skimpier costumes got while the programme’s popularity grew
The original ITV Gladiators included Jet (Diane Youdale), Flame (Kimbra Stadish), Phoenix (Sandy Young) and Wolf (Michael Van Wijk)
Costume designer Stephen Adnitt worked on the original ITV run of Gladiators which was broadcast between 1992 and 2000
The ITV series ran from 1992 to 2000, with the challenges pitting members of the public against the Gladiators filmed at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena – and often lasting into the early hours, before later being edited for broadcast.
The arena shows included cheerleader performances to help whip up the crowd, meaning more outfits for Mr Adnitt to make – though they were online seen on the sidelines when the programmes went out on Saturday evenings.
He also created a set of officially-branded tracksuits for the Gladiators to wear when not in action – and said: ‘I don’t know if the BBC one has tracksuits, but even if so they won’t be as nice as mine.’
But the main costumes were the priority – and as the shows went on and viewing figures soared, pressure mounted to keep updating the outfits.
He remembered: ‘The Gladiators wanted to show all their bodies, everything showing.
‘When I did the original costumes I tried to make different shapes for everyone – some had two-pieces, some one-pieces, some shorter legs, some higher up.
‘As it went on and people got more familiar with the series, and the Gladiators were getting more publicity and as bodybuilders, they’d want to show more.
‘They decided themselves it would be nice to show more midriff, show a lot more leg, show a bit more cleavage.
‘The smaller the costumes got, fitting the logos on got harder to do.
‘Lightning was one whose outfit got tighter – Jet again, her symbol itself was quite tiny by the time we finished.
‘It was all good fun and one of the first big sports-themed game shows.’
Warrior, real name Michael Aherne, was the first Gladiator to go for his costume fitting – and proved even bulkier than expected, prompting a wardrobe rethink
Stephen Adnitt has shared the original sketches he did for different Gladiators’ costumes
Each outfit had to feature a individual logo matching each Gladiator’s given name
The designer says some names were easier to illustrate, such as Wolf
Mr Adnitt says he found it increasingly tricky to fit the logos on as the outfits got smaller
He designed two different looks but was glad producers opted for the ‘more expensive’ one
Mr Adnitt, originally from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, trained at the Royal College of Art before joining ITV network franchise LWT in 1978 in the costume department
The Gladiators were keen to have more of a say in the costume designs as the show took off
The producer back in 1992 was Nigel Lythgoe, who later went on to his own primetime appearances as so-called ‘Nasty Nigel’ in the first Pop Idol series.
Mr Adnitt was working at the time in LWT’s costume department and was put in charge of the Gladiators project, a British version of what had been a hit in the US.
He said: ‘At first it was totally new for us, whereas with this new series they’ve got the old one to work with.
‘I was busy last Saturday so I haven’t watched the new one yet but I’ve seen a few stills of the costumes and they seem very similar really.
‘I noticed some of the logos. the style was very similar and with a little circle on the front of the costume – but then again, you can’t really change the format too much.
‘The Sky one seemed to be done a lot cheaper – this seems lots and lots more like the one we did. The BBC have spent money, just as ours cost a lot.’
He recalled: ‘When I started sketching, I did two different designs – the American original version of the show was still up and running so I had that to look at before going away and chatting with the producer.
‘Of the two designs, they chose to go with what was my favourite even though they were more expensive to produce.
‘I did an alternative because it would be cheaper – with a design based on a circuit board, I don’t know why – but I was pleased they went with the first.
‘It then became a question of getting it right with everyone’s name, adding on different images according to what each Gladiator was called.
The 1998 series featured this back row of Warrior, Raider, Hunter, Saracen
Stephen Adnitt remains proud of the tracksuits he also came up with, for the Gladiators to wear on the sidelines when not taking part in the arena action challenges themselves
He is seen here discussing hand-painting costumes with fellow specialist Mathilde Sandberg
‘My images tended to be slightly tattoo-ish – I say that, although I personally hate tattoos.
‘Rhino had a rhino, that was straightforward enough. Some influences were old Roman imagery – Warrior had a helmet.
‘Everybody had their own image. We’d bandy around the names we were given, as to what might work best, but sometimes they were difficult.
‘Amazon, for example – what could Amazon be? Well, nowadays it could be a drone delivering parcels but that doesn’t feel right. A forest? A river? Rio de Janeiro?
‘That again was quite hard. I ended up doing a night scene of the sky over Rio.’
Another dilemma came when turning the sketches into actual fabric creations – which included experts actually handpainting colours on to the costumes.
He said: ‘The first one in for his fitting was Warrior. We’d got all the measurements for the lycra but when he came in I was amazed at just how big he was – he was so big.
‘They were proper bodybuilders – some of them were more huge than we expected.
‘We had to refit him, re-do his outfit, but after that we got into the swing of things.’
He remains in touch with some of the old Gladiators including Jet, real name Diane Youdale who survived a near-death accident to become a bombshell star and date a beauty queen – before meeting her wife in Tesco.
Panther, real name Heather O’Reilly, is another he exchanges messages with – ‘I wish them happy birthday’ – while he has also appeared on podcasts run by ex-Gladiators.
He also worked on international versions of Gladiators, including in Germany and South Africa where he used those countries’ respective flags as part of the colour palette – just as he had done for the British equivalent.
He said: ‘The red, white and blue of the uniforms was because that’s our patriotic colour and did similar with the German and South African shows’ outfits.’
Another of his’s star clients was Barry Humphries, for the character Dame Edna Everage
The BBC’s new version of Gladiators made its TV debut last Saturday, with 6.4million viewers
Stephen Adnitt has not yet watched the new version, including Gladiators such as Diamond (pictured), but has sensed some similarities to his costumes – and says the BBC has spent well
The new show features Gladiators named, from left to right, Fire, Comet, Athena, Dynamite, Diamond, Sabre, Electro and Fury
The male Gladiators include Viper, Giant, Legend, Phantom, Apollo, Nitro, Steel and Bionic
Mr Adnitt called his time on the British show ‘all very fun, very exciting, very noisy’.
He added: ‘You’d have these vast crowds at Birmingham’s NIA there until the early hours of the morning, struggling to get home after filming finally ended.
‘There were cheerleaders putting on shows to keep up the sporty atmosphere although TV viewers then never got to see these.
‘I was always surprised how big Gladiators was but I still get people asking for the artworks – I don’t intend to sell.’
Yet some of his creations for n comic Barry Humphries’ character Dame Edna Everage have been on display at London’s V&A Museum.
Mr Adnitt said of Humphries, who died aged 89 last April: ‘He was a very, very clever man. I wouldn’t want to cross him. But we got on fantastically.
‘He would come up with ideas but take on suggestions. One time, for a breakfast show, he wanted a design to look like a can of Heinz baked beans.
‘I said I didn’t think that lent itself to a dress, in its shape, and suggested one covered in bacon and egg and bean patterns, and he agreed.
‘He also went along when I wanted to do a Dame Edna dress based on Edvward Munch’s painting The Scream.’
‘With the Gladiators, it would be just ten weeks at a time then it was over – you did get to know them, but not in the way I knew Barry and Cilla.’
Mr Adnitt, originally from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, began working for ITV’s London franchise LWT in the 1970s after training at the Royal College of Art.
He has since also headed costume and stylist duties on shows such as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Dancing On Ice – the latter of which has also just started a new series, this one still on ITV.
He said: ‘I’m not working on Gladiators or Dancing On Ice anymore, but it will be good to tune into them both again on Saturday nights now.’