The Trapdoor (1984)
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producers: CMTB Animation
& Queensgate Productions
animation: stop-motion animation
episodes: 40 x 5min episodes
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"Somewhere in the dark and nasty regions where nobody
goes stands an ancient castle. Deep within this dank and
uninviting place lives Berk, overworked servant to The Thing
upstairs. But that's nothing compared to the horrors that
lurk beneath The Trapdoor, for there is always something
down there in the dark, waiting to come out..."
- Trapdoor intro
"Oh globbits!"
- Berk
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This splendid plasticene series was stuffed with creepy critters and creations. It was set in the dungeons of an old creepy castle. Here Berk was a blue, rather unfortunate servant to "The Thing Upstairs", the menacing master of the castle whom we never saw but certainly heard as his booming voice echoed around the corridors and hideaways. Berk was assisted and prevaricated in equal amounts by his scurrying pet Drutt and a long-suffering talking skull called Boni.
The Trapdoor itself sat smack in the way of Berk's work. A big wooden door in the floor through which beasties and insects would emerge at the most inopportune of moments to hinder Berk's progress and generally cause much manic mischief. These creatures were squirming, trundling, thundering, squishing brilliant - as cooky as the imaginations of the series producers...
Boni and Drutt Oh globbits! - It's a Trapdoor 'thingy'!
CMTB Productions is an amalgum of the initials of Charles Mills and Terry Brain, the series creators. They and the third team member Steve Box (credited here as "Thing Doer" on the show) went on to bring us the cel animated delights of Stoppit and Tidyup. Steve has since gone on to work for Aardman Animation, where his career has gone from strength to strength. Most recently he has co-directed the multi-award winning Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Terry Brain has also spent time in the employ of the same Bristol studio.
The Trapdoor voices and story emebellishments were provided by the late great Willie Rushton, famous for his satiric contributions to shows like "That Was The Week That Was". Take a closer look at Berk's pal Drutt there - he even looks a little like Willie doesn't he?
Trapdoor was a gem of a show, stuffed with imaginative eccentricities and capped off by a splendidly hip theme song. And would you belive it, it's still showing today on Channel 4. Extraordinary.
And now, twenty plus years later, Charles Mills and Tery Brain are reteaming to produce an animated adaptation of Ricky Gervais' "Flanimals". The funtastic critters in the Gervais books might have crawled straight out of the Trapdoor. It should be the perfect marriage, and we'll get to see the off-spring some time
in 2007...
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