British Invaders 488: The Trap Door (Part 1)
September 14, 2025 Leave a Comment
The Trap Door was a 1980s claymation series for children. It featured strange and cheerful creatures in a gothic castle….
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Space: 1999 was first broadcast on September 4, 1975 on the BBC — 50 years ago today! This live-action series from Gerry Anderson featured the crew of Moonbase Alpha exploring the universe as they fight for survival. 
Schalcken the Painter was a 1979 adaptation of the ghost story by Sheridan Le Fanu. A terrifying man confronts two 17th-century Dutch painters with an offer of gold to “buy” a young woman’s hand in marriage. As they deal with this, we see the paintings come to life on screen. 
The City & The City was a 2018 BBC adaptation of the book by China Miéville. Two cities occupy the same space but are also somehow very separate. Someone from one city is murdered after crossing into the other. Which police force will investigate? Can they avoid involvement by mysterious organization know as Breach?
Four Feather Falls was an early supermarionation show from Gerry Anderson. Tex Tucker is a sheriff with a talking dog, a talking horse and guns that can fire without him even touching them! Four magic feathers make this possible in this western series from 1960. 
Noughts + Crosses was a BBC alternate-history series that ran in 2020 and 2022. It showed us a world where an African empire colonized Europe, and African “Crosses” rule over European “Noughts”. Striking inequities are on display, and a resistance movement is brewing.
The Omega Factor was a 1979 BBC supernatural investigation show that starred Louise Jameson and others. 
Survivors was first broadcast on April 16, 1975 on the BBC — 50 years ago today! After a disease wipes out 99% of the population, what will the survivors do? What challenges will they encounter, and how will they meet those challenges? 
The Living and the Dead was a 2016 six-episode ghost-story series from the BBC. It’s 1894 and Nathan and Charlotte Appleby have taken over a farming estate. As they struggle to learn how to run this farm, strange and ghostly things from the past start to appear….
Simon and the Witch was a 1987 BBC children’s series. Simon is a schoolboy and the Witch is his friend. She can’t read very well, so she becomes a student in Simon’s class. Magic and comedy ensues! 
The Aphrodite Inheritance was a 1979 BBC serial set on the Greek island of Cypress. David Collier travels to Cypress after his brother is in a car accident there. David is soon caught up in the search for a cave containing some valuable artifacts. Three mysterious characters seem to be involved, but we don’t know why….
Intergalactic was a 2021 series from Sky One about a group of female convicts who steal the prison spaceship transporting them. Will they find their way to the free world of Arcadia? 
The Tractate Middoth and The Dead Room were from the BBC’s annual A Ghost Story for Christmas tradition. The first was an M.R. James adaptation from 2013, and the second was an original ghost story from 2018. They were written and directed by Mark Gatiss. 
Nineteen Eighty-Four was first broadcast on December 12, 1954 — 70 years ago today! This BBC adaptation of George Orwell’s classic aired only five years after novel was published. Join us as we celebrate the anniversary of this live TV drama.
The Tractate Middoth and The Dead Room were both from the BBC’s annual A Ghost Story for Christmas strand. One was an M.R. James adaptation from 2013, and the other was an original ghost story from 2018. Both were written and directed by Mark Gatiss. 
Space Precinct was a 1994/1995 Gerry Anderson series about a police force made up of humans and aliens. Organized crime, murder and hate crime coexist with cloning, cyborgs, interplanetary travel and more. 
Dracula is a 2006 BBC/Granada/WGBH adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel. When Arthur Holmwood discovers a frightening disease in his family, he will do anything for a cure. The sinister Brotherhood is calling upon a certain European count who may be able to help. Who might suffer as result of this meddling with the supernatural? 
The Borrowers was a 1992/1993 BBC adaptation of the classic children’s novels by Mary Norton. A family of six-inch-tall people survive by “borrowing” food and other items from humans. What will happen when some of the full-sized humans discover the Borrowers? 
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a 2015 adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s 2004 novel of the same name. The two magicians of the title begin to practice magic more openly in 1806. How will their actions and relationship change the course of history? 
After the Warming was a 1989 speculative documentary from James Burke. Its first episode described the way humans interacted with the climate in the past, while the second episode showed us the events of 1990 through 2050. This two-part production warned us about climate change and the greenhouse effect. 
Hammer Films adapted all three 1950s BBC Quatermass serials as films. The Quatermass Xperiment was released in 1955, Quatermass 2 in 1957 and Quatermass and the Pit in 1967. This is our annual “spinoff” discussion about an adaptation of a British SF TV series into a different medium. 
Alice in Wonderland was a 1986 BBC adaptation of the classic book by Lewis Carroll. Journey from sepia into colour as we enter Wonderland! 
Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire was a sword-and-sorcery comedy from 2009. This co-production from BBC2 and Comedy Central brought us a team of mostly-bumbling adventurers who try to save Hessemeel from the tyrant Chancellor Dongalor!