The Trap Door

Title: The Trap Door
Country of Origin: UK
Produced by: Queensgate Productions Ltd.
Air Date: 1984-86
Number of Episodes: 40
Episode Length: 5 minutes
Shown in: UK



Info: Crazy and hilarious 3D stop motion animation, featuring the cute blue creature Berk. Berk is a servant to The Thing Upstairs, and he lives in the servant quarters with his friends Boni (a talking skull) and Drutt (a naughty spider). Adventures are never far away when the Trap Door is left open and creatures find their way into the castle!

Written by Charles Mills, narrated by Willie Rushton, music & lyrics by Bob Heatlie, directed by Charles Mills and Terry Brain, produced by John Howson.

Trapdoor lyrics

Trap Door lyrics

Narration...

Somewhere in the dark and nasty regions, where nobody goes, stands an ancient castle. Deep within this dank and uninviting place, lives Berk "Ello!" - overworkd servant of the Thing Upstair "Berk! Feed me!"... But that's nothing compared to the horrors that lurk beneath the Trap Door... for there is always something down there, in the dark, waiting to come out!

Don't you open that Trap Door!
You're a fool if you dare!
Stay away from that Trap Door!
Cos there's something down there!

Trap Door Characters

Berk is friendly, rather impatient, and loves to cook! Berk is the overworked servant of "the Thing Upstairs".

Boni is the skull who sits under his little arch and loves to have a moan...

Drutt is cheeky and a bit silly, he is a little spider who likes to get under Berk's feet.

Rog is one of the Trap Door mosters, but is a good friend to Berk and the gang. 

Trap Door images

Trap Door DVDs

Trap Door - Series 1 & 2 ORDER FROM AMAZON | PLAY | HMV 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 of 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. Don't you open that Trapdoor. You're a fool if you dare!The Trap Door contains 40 episodes of the popular children's series.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW:

Exclusive interview for 80s Cartoons, with Terry Brain, co-creator of Trap Door and Stoppit and Tidyup!

Q1. Apart from Trap Door and Stoppit and Tidyup, have you been invloved with any other cartoon productions? 
Since Stoppit & Tidyup we've manly done commercials and title sequences.

Q2. What exactly was your job while working on
a. Trap Door
b. Stoppit and Tidyup 
Director, Writer & Animator! (As were all three of us)

Q3. How many other people were involved with making
a. Trap Door
b. Stoppit and Tidyup 
Two others.

Q4. Which did you enjoy making most, and why? 
Trap Door, because we were left alone for two years to do fourty episodes! Alot of fun, but alot of late nights.

Q5. How long did one episode take to make for
a. Trap Door
b. Stoppit and Tidyup 
Trap Door: Two weeks to write, build & shoot Stoppit & Tidyup: About 10 days to write and shoot.

Q6. Was the success of these cartoons a surprise? 
Yes, because you can only do what you think is funny & hope that other people find it funny!

Q7. Which were/are your favourite characters? 
Berk, Boni, Drutt & the big sponge!

Q8. Do you have a favourite episode of
a. Trap Door
b. Stoppit and Tidyup 
Trap Door: 'Bye Bye Berk', when Berk resigns Stoppit & Tidyup: 'Clean your Teeth', where it starts snowing in the middle of sumer for no reason.

Q9. Are there any original Trap Door models left? If yes, where are they? 
There's only two models remaining! Drutt is on our mantelpiece (sitting in Boni's trolley) & Boni now lives at Aardman animations on Steve Box's desk! (Steve worked on the Trap Door too)

Q10. Are there any original Stoppit and Tidyup animation cells or drawings left? If yes, where are they? 
Yes, they are in CMTB's old studio.

Q11. Who thought up all the Trap Door monsters? Which did you think of? 
Myself & Steve Box mainly.

Q12. Did you ever have a concept of what the Thing Upstairs looked like? 
No, we made it up as we went along! There are various clues i.e. He flies, He has more than one eye which can be taken out and cleaned, he has more than one mouth, etc... You can see part of him in a lightning flash in one episode!

Q13. a.Who, or what, made Drutt's noises??
b. Who or what made the noises for the characters Tidyup and Stoppit? 
Trap Door: Drutts noises were made by our editor who came in from the pub and made lots of farty/squeaky sounds & then we played them backwards. 
Stoppit & Tidyup: Me!

Q14. Do you still watch Trap Door or Stoppit and Tidyup? 
Only when other people watch it.

Q15. Is there any aspect of either cartoon that you think could have been done better? 
I quite like it the way it is but if we had more money we could of made it better.

Q16. Willie Rushton did an amazing job with the voices - did he enjoy it? 
Yes he did! We had a great time together. He was such fun to work with.

Q17. In Edinburgh recently I saw a guy, aged early 20's, with a leather jacket that had the Trap Door logo painted on the back - how does that make you feel? 
Chuffed!

Q18. Are you still aware of all the devoted fans that are still out there, and probably reading this?! 
Not really, but it's nice to know!

Q19. If you could say one thing to all your fans, what would it be? 
Thanks very much!!!

Q20. What are you invloved with now - any Trap Door or Stoppit and Tidyup recreations?? 
No recreations at the moment, but we may have a 'Trap Door' type series in the next year or two. At the moment I'm working on Aardman animations new feature film called 'Chicken Run' which should be out in the cinemas next June!

Trap Door MP3 downloads

	Trap Door theme tune (opening)
	Trap Door theme tune (closing)

Trap Door T-Shirts

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LADIES Trap Door Hoody

Trap Door video and more

Trap Door Episodes

SERIES 1

1. Breakfast Time
2. Slither, Wriggle and Writhe
3. Food for Thort
4. Lurkings
5. Gourmet's Delight
6. Creepy Crawly
7. The Big Thing
8. Ghoulies
9. The Dose
10. The Thingy
11. Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite
12. Fester Rancid
13. The Pain
14. The Little Thing
15. Don't Open That Trap Door
16. Junk Food
17. Yecch!
18. The Flyin Fingy
19. Strange Goings On
20. Midnight Snack
21. Nasty Stuff
22. Sniff That
23. Vile Pile
24. Slightly Weird
25. Bye Bye Berk

SERIES 2

1. Scunge
2. Oh Globbits
3. Moany Boni
4. THe Horrible Thing
5. Not Very Nice
6. Bugs
7. Yum Yum
8. Birthday Surprise
9. The Stupid Thing
10. Boo
11. The Lump
12. The Splund
13. Nasty Beasty
14. What a Weirdo
15. The Big Red Thing