The Trap Door

The Trap Door
DVD cover with characters Boni, Berk and Drutt (left to right)
Genre	Horror Comedy
Created by	Terry Brain (animator) Charlie Mills
Voices of	Willie Rushton Nick Shipley
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	40 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	5 min.
Production company(s)	CMTB Animation Queensgate Productions
Distributor	Link Entertainment (1984–2001) Entertainment Rights (2001–2009) DreamWorks Classics (2009–present) NBCUniversal Television Distribution (2016-present)
Release
Original network	ITV Network (CITV) Channel 4 Trouble (2005) POP (2009)
Original release	1984 1986 (first run)

The Trap Door is a British animated television series, originally shown in the United Kingdom in 1984. 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 family entertainment shows of the 1980s. Digital children's channel Pop started rerunning the show in 2010. Both seasons are currently available on iTunes.

The show was created by British animators Terry Brain and Charlie Mills, and produced through their own companies, CMTB Animation and Queensgate Productions Ltd. Brain and Mills were also responsible for another animated show, Stoppit and Tidyup, a few years later in the late 1980s. Together they were referred to as "Brainbox Mills". Later, Terry Brain went on to be an animator with Aardman Animations and has since worked on the six Wallace and Gromit films, as well as Chicken Run and animated television shows, Gogs and Creature Comforts.

A total of 25 episodes of The Trap Door were made in 1984, with each episode running for around four minutes. Two years later in 1986, when the show had proved successful, a second series was produced and aired with a further 15 episodes of similar running time. There were a total of 40 episodes of the show produced.

Most character voices were provided by Willie Rushton, an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the satirical magazine, Private Eye. Nick Shipley provided the voice of Drutt.