Description

The Trap Door is a British animated television series, originally shown in the United Kingdom in 1986. The plot revolves around the daily lives and the misadventures of a group of monsters living in a castle. Although the emphasis was on humour and the show was marketed as a children’s programme, it drew much from horror and dark fantasy.

The show has since become a cult favourite and remains one of the most widely recognised British children’s shows of the 1980s.

Regular characters

Berk is an oviform blue creature who speaks with a West Country accent. He is the protagonist of the show, and steward or caretaker of the monster’s castle. As such, Berk often goes about his duties with simple-minded glee, and enjoys cooking with ingredients such as mud, eyeballs, snakes, and worms. Berk is often warned not to open the trap door by his friends, or forbidden by his master, but often does so nonetheless. His usual exclamations include “Oh, Globbits!” and “Sniff that!”

Boni is a disembodied human skull, and Berk’s closest friend. Speaking with an upper-class accent, he is something of an intellectual, but has a tendency to complain or bore others. Boni dislikes to be moved from his favourite spot—an alcove in the wall near the trap door—and is often shown failing to warn Berk about the various monsters that come from it. Although serious most of the time, he is given to childish excitements on par with those of Berk.

Drutt is Berk’s pet, resembling an oversized spider, who often causes trouble when chasing after worms and other invaders, as by passing the trap door in search thereof. Although often characterised as male, Drutt produces a litter of baby spiders in the show’s second season. Drutt is non-verbal but makes various noises.

The Thing Upstairs is the impatient, cantankerous, demanding and terrifying master of the castle, who rarely leaves his penthouse room, and consequently is never seen. In most episodes, he orders Berk (in a Cockney accent) to fix things in the castle, prepare meals for him, or sometimes bathe or clean him. His appearance is never revealed, but grotesque hints are dropped.

Trap Door monsters: For a majority of the series, the plot of each episode will revolve around a new monster that emerges from the trapdoor. These monster are often hostile to Berk and his friends, though others seem relatively harmless and simply act as a minor irritation.

The Big Red Thing is a recurring monster that initially appeared in the first episode “Breakfast Time”, in which it emerges from the trapdoor and pursues Berk through the castle, but ultimately flees back down the trapdoor upon viewing its own reflection. The Big Red Thing makes a later appearance in the episodes “Don’t Open That Trap Door”, along with the final episode of the first season “Bye Bye Berk”.

Rogg is a large gorilla like creature who initially appears in the fourth episode of the first series “Lurkings”. Although somewhat unintelligent, he is fairly friendly towards Berk and the other residents of the castle. In the episode “Junk Food”, Berk initially dislikes him after Rogg unwittingly gets him into trouble with The Thing Upstairs, the latter mistaking Rogg for a poorly prepared dinner. When confronting the Red Thing during the final episode of the second season “The Big Red Thing”, Rogg is pronounced dead as the credits roll, before revealing himself to be alive in the aftermath.

Bubo is a recurring monster that first appears in the episode “Gourmet’s Delight”. In the episode, he is initially invisible until he is covered in a yellow substance. Upon catching him, Berk inflates his body through a small hole in the top of his head, before releasing him to soar back down the trapdoor. In the episode “Fester Rancid”, Bubo kidnaps Boni and begins repeatedly hitting him with a stick beside a lake, before he is tossed into the water by Berk. Bubo appears for the last time in the episode “Scunge”, where he returns to irritate Berk but is ultimately sent back down the trapdoor by Rogg.

The Splund is a large, round monster capable of teleportation. It was one of the few Trap Door creatures capable of speaking, doing so in a deep, demonic-sounding tone. It appeared in the episode “Don’t open that Trap Door”, often singing along to the lyrics of the theme song. In the episode “The Splund”, it emerged from the Trap Door and began terrorizing Boni and Drutt by teleporting around and threatening to eat them. Berk touched it with the point of a sewing needle, causing it to burst like a balloon and reveal that despite its intimidating manner, it was full of nothing but air. Its voice was edited with a Harmonizer, initially deepened when it spoke, but increasing sporadically when it began laughing.