Dominik Diamond

This will look very stalk-ish of me to know the following. I do so as I have done my research - not because I've hunted Diamond down and rummaged through his garbage (besides, the search proved inconclusive). Anyway here's a brief paragraph of stuff that he did before GamesMaster; As a student, Dominik graduated with a 2.1 in Drama. During his University years, he performed in many clubs and pubs with his comedy group, and performed with such fellow comedy heroes as Simon Pegg (Spaced) and David Walliams (Little Britain). That was in 1991.

Only a couple of months later Dominik went to audition for a new TV show by Channel 4. That wasn't GamesMaster though; it was The Word, Channel 4's ultimate Terry Christian offending student show. As stated, that presenter job for The Word went to the punchable Mr Christian, but it was here where producer, Adam Wood, saw the potential of Dominik and invited him to take part for an audition on a new Channel 4 gaming show. Under a panel of top execs and researchers (including Dave Perry), Dominik got the thumbs up and GamesMaster now had its presenter.

During 1992, when GamesMaster really took off, Dominik started writing for Smash Hits Magazine where he infamously got the first ever-mainstream interview with the Manic Street Preachers. He also joined Steve Wright's Radio 1 Afternoon Show with his own video games segment. Oh, and when he found free time from doing all that as well as filming GamesMaster, he also wrote for his Big Purple Column, which was featured in GM Mag for 9 months, and came back later for Series 4 in '95.

Unfortunately, Dom left the GamesMaster TV show after two series' with some claiming that it was the McDonalds' sponsorship that had made him leave. That was never confirmed, but it is still discussed even today by hardcore fans. However, while Dom had left the show, he was still very firmly lodged in his gaming roots by presenting a video with SEGA European Champion, Danny Curely, entitled PowerPlay, and Dom even wrote a book called 'Dominik Diamond's Guide to Video Games and How to Survive Them' in 1994. So although GamesMaster and its Red Jacket were but a past memory, Dominik was still maintaining the interest in videogames.

We cheered as news reached us all that Dominik was to return to present Series 4 of GamesMaster, and in September 1994 we got to see his triumphant return for ourselves. The feeling of normality came back to the show, albeit in its crossover style, and the new improved Dominik was on full sarcastic force, ripping the challenger's to shreds. Series 5 and 6 followed (see series guide for better detail) and then finally Series 7 in 1997. That's a bit of a brief ending, sorry, but you'll find a much better biography of Mr Diamond's many, many years in the media over at 20041020043425/http://www.jgpm.co.uk/dd.htm