Count Duckula

Count Duckula is a short green duck with black parted hair and the traditional vampire evening wear, and speaks with a hybrid British-American accent. He has no fangs, and his favourite food, as a vegetarian, is broccoli sandwiches.

He has a very modern outlook, and often despairs over the traditional vampire image he is expected to embody. He hates living in a dark, gloomy castle, and finds the behaviour of his servants to be depressing. Duckula frequently expresses frustration with Igor's attempts to change him back into a proper vampire and his lecturing Duckula as a disgrace and disappointment to the Duckula lineage. Although he retains some vampiric powers and qualities (such as teleportation and an image invisible to mirrors), he also possesses a lesser power, seen only once, which is the ability to create a lightning flash when angry. He often goes outside in the daytime without suffering any ill effects, but this is likely because of his not being a fully "traditional" vampire. In the episode "Doctor Goosewing and Mr. Duck", Count Duckula briefly turns into a "proper" vampire, desiring blood from the villagers outside the castle (much to Igor's great delight), due to a serum slipped to him by von Goosewing that he presumed would make Duckula harmless, but he turns away from the door when he discovers that the sun is still out and is returned to normal by night.

Duckula's personality is good-natured and caring, always trying to help the villagers in need, often with mixed results. Despite his nobility, inherited castle, and devoted staff, he is often destitute to the point of being penniless, with several episodes pointing out that he struggles to pay essentials (such as claiming that he hasn't been able to pay his light bill since the day he was resurrected). As a result of being perpetually broke, Count Duckula is prone to short-lived obsessions, usually in order to become rich and famous. These obsessions form the plots for episodes, such as attempting to become a blues musician in New Orleans or prospecting for gold.

The character differs considerably from his predecessor on the Danger Mouse series. The only similarity, other than the name, is they are both vampire ducks with ambitions in show business and little actual talent. The previous version was an evil villain, willing to blackmail and force his way into stardom (as opposed to the current Count, who merely tries to get in the legitimate way) and was fixated on being a TV star, rather than settle for fame in some other branch of entertainment. The original depiction of Duckula has far greater magical powers and makes more common use of them. He has a thick accent consisting of lisping, stuttering and occasional squawks. Most notably, he was not a vegetarian in the Danger Mouse version. In his very first appearance, he threatened to drink Danger Mouse's blood, only to be chased away by the sun. The Danger Mouse Duckula was destroyed and fell to ashes, resurrected during the 8th astronomical house of Aquarius. During his recent appearance in the 2015 reboot, the new Duckula is a mix of the original and the vegetarian version from his spin-off.

Marvel Comics (via their Star Comics imprint) produced a comic series based on Count Duckula, and introduced an additional difference between this incarnation of Duckula which separated him from his predecessors. Due to ketchup being used in the resurrection ceremony, this version of Duckula has ketchup, rather than blood, flowing through his veins. This was discovered when Duckula was given a blood test in order to get a passport into a fictional country which produced a salad which Duckula was obsessed with getting to eat. In the same issue, Duckula, Nanny, and Igor were photographed as a means of formal ID for said country; however, due to the classic stereotype of vampires not appearing in film, Duckula did not appear in the photo which was taken. Duckula also gained a romantic interest in the Star Comics run; Vanna Von Goosewing, who turned out to be the niece of his long time adversary Dr. Von Goosewing. The attraction was mutual, and the two continued their relationship though the majority of the series after their introduction, though Vanna did not always appear in every issue of the book.

Igor, the Count's butler, is a traditional horror servant based on the stock character Igor, and adds a decidedly dark streak to some of the show's humour. He greatly dislikes his master's behaviour, and often encourages him to act in a far more ghastly manner. Although he will generally obey Duckula's specific orders, he remains convinced that, if he could only talk Duckula into biting, maiming, torturing and otherwise brutalising people, he would return to the "good old days" of the previous counts who behaved more like evil vampires. Igor hates words such as "bless you", "nice", "good", and "lovely". Such words make him cringe, since he prefers the darker and more sinister side of life. In "Dr Goosewing and Mr Duck" when he accidentally drinks the carpet stain removal liquid created by Goosewing, his personality changes to an overly sweet-natured demeanour, and he becomes eager to help Goosewing destroy Duckula.

He is a hunched, balding, cultured vulture with a deep, slow voice and delights in the macabre. In the episode "Arctic Circles", he states that he has served for "seven-and-a-half centuries", indicating that Igor is himself either immortal, or extremely long-lived through some unknown means. It is unknown if the 7.5 centuries constitutes the totality of the 17-count Duckula dynasty, or if Igor has only served the most recent few incarnations. The episode "Dear Diary" implies that the Duckula dynasty is in excess of 2,000 years old, by stating that exposure to sunlight would fry the extant count into "a 2,000-year-old pile of dust." However the episode "The Rest is History" contradicts this, by implying that not only has Igor indeed been with the dynasty since the very first Count Duckula, he is also responsible for the first count becoming a vampire, as a figure who is virtually identical to the modern Igor of the show in both appearance and voice conspires to have the first Duckula be bitten by a bat. The exact reasons for this are unknown, however his attempts are ultimately successful, much to the chagrin of the modern Duckula.

Nanny is Duckula's nanny and housekeeper. She is an extremely large and clumsy hen with a very strong Bristolian accent and her right arm inexplicably always in a sling, possessing incredible strength and inevitably messing up whatever task she is set to do. The episode "No Sax Please, We're Egyptian" reveals that Nanny's clumsiness actually resulted in the death of three former chambermaids of Castle Duckula, though this happenstance is quickly dismissed by the characters as they were only part-time employees. Nanny has a blind spot regarding doors, and often crashes through a door without opening it first, or (more commonly) walks right through the wall a few feet off from the door's position. Not surprisingly, she is the one who mistakes ketchup for blood in Duckula's current resurrection. The episode "Prime Time Duck" reveals her first name to be Amnesia. Nanny may herself also be immortal, as—in the episode "Dear Diary"—she's seen alongside Igor, serving the Count's great-grandfather, in a flashback set more than a century prior to the show's present day.

She is supremely unintelligent, completely unreliable, but utterly devoted to her "Ducky-boos," as she calls Duckula, and has a deep maternal affection for him, although her clumsiness often inadvertently causes him harm. A recurring gag is her inability to understand what people around her are talking about. She often mixes up words and takes insult at conversations not directed at her. In "Dr Goosewing and Mr Duck" when she accidentally drinks the carpet stain removal liquid created by Goosewing, she becomes extremely intelligent.

Count Duckula's home is an archetypal Transylvanian castle with all the trimmings: dungeon, torture chamber, library of macabre texts, laboratory, and more. The castle is also home to an often referred-to, but never seen, werewolf named Towser, which Duckula does not believe exists (he often refers to it as "the werewolf we don't have"). The castle can teleport to any place on earth (and beyond), but returns automatically at dawn, "Eastern Transylvanian Standard Time". The teleportation is activated when Duckula enters an upright coffin while he states where he wants it to take him (often, he will have to come up with a rhyme to activate it properly). The controls to this device are inside an old-fashioned cuckoo clock that hangs on the wall. The controls have two live mechanical bats, Dmitri and Sviatoslav, who are known for bad puns and jokes. Duckula himself, throughout the entire series never notices them except in the episode "The Rest is History".

Dr. Von Goosewing is a mad scientist and vampire hunter, a spoof of Abraham Van Helsing. He is a goose that speaks in a German accent, and wears an outfit not unlike that of Sherlock Holmes. He pursues Count Duckula relentlessly, never able to comprehend that Duckula is actually completely harmless. He is a terrible scientist, often getting maimed by his own crackpot inventions, he is supremely unobservant, and often bumps into Duckula and converses with him for several minutes without realizing to whom he is speaking.

Goosewing appears to have an assistant named Heinrich (he never appears on screen), whom he often calls out and blames his failures on him. In fact, "Heinrich" appears to be just a figment of Goosewing's imagination, an imaginary friend. However, the comic book version of the characters by Marvel reveal that Heinrich is actually his former assistant who is always complaining about his paltry wages.

The Marvel Comics run also introduced Vanna Von Goosewing, who was stated to be Von Goosewing's niece. Vanna and Duckula's reciprocal romance further infuriated Goosewing, as he now believed that Vanna was under some form of mental manipulation, assuming it to be the only reason she would have any interest in Duckula. This belief made him all the more intent on destroying Duckula as he now considered his mission to have a personal component to it, believing Duckula to be a threat to Vanna's safety. In an alternate universe depicted in the final issue of the comic, Goosewing is stated to have succeeded in destroying the counterpart Duckula of that reality, indicating it to be the reason why the 'regular' Duckula of the series had no reflection, and leaving Igor and Nanny without anyone to serve until the next time the resurrection ritual could be performed.

The Crow Brothers are four criminally-inclined crows named Ruffles, Burt, Junior, and the masked brother (according to a comic in a Count Duckula annual). They typically scale the walls of Castle Duckula with the aid of climbing equipment. They are always seen hanging off one another with the use of bungee cords to climb the walls of whatever building they plan to scale. Their goal is to get at the treasure inside the castle, but they will rarely make it to the top.

Gaston and Pierre are a pair of French criminals and occasional villains. Although they are both undeniably incompetent, the arrogant Gaston is ostensibly the "brains" of the outfit. Gaston is a tall, thin, black stork, while Pierre is a short, stubby parakeet who sounds similar to Bluebottle from The Goon Show. The characters were adapted into non-bird form for yet another Cosgrove-Hall animated series, Victor and Hugo.

A ruthless crew of piratical penguins originally hired by Count Duckula, this crew of seafarers turn on Count Duckula when his antics crash their ship. All of the penguins are typical pirate stereotypes, one of which is known as Mr. Mate and shouts that he will "bite their heads off!"

The Narrator (Barry Clayton) opens and closes every episode. Episodes usually began with him describing Castle Duckula and its gloomy atmosphere, and close with him saying a phrase popularised in the 1950s and 1960s by American TV horror host John Zacherle, "Goodnight out there ... WHATever you are!" The Narrator finishes with evil laughter that leads into the end credits. Variants of The Narrator's closing line are also used to close certain programmes.[6]

Duckula has numerous vampiric relatives all over the world, who are more classic vampires than Duckula, possessing fangs, red eyes and evil personalities. Only a small number, such as Don Diego, show any affinity or friendship toward the benign Count Duckula.

They come from many different countries, such as Spain and Scotland, and their costumes represent their native cultures. The relatives include Don Diego, a Spanish vampire duck who makes his fun and games by burning down villages, and Rory McDuckula, a Scottish vampire duck who later makes himself an enemy of Duckula. Another relative, the Archduck Merganser, was a famous Egyptologist. "Uncle Bloodbath" is also mentioned a few times.[7]

The town situated below Castle Duckula is home to many peasants who live in constant fear of the count, despite his harmless current incarnation. A recurring joke in the series and associated books is that "the peasants are revolting". Their local pub is called The Tooth and Jugular. The regulars are often seen singing a variation of the traditional song "One Man Went to Mow a Meadow!" replacing the words "mow a meadow" with "kill a vampire".

Towser is the werewolf kept secretly in the dungeons of Castle Duckula. Never seen on-screen, he is sometimes heard howling and growling off-screen. This frequently leads to Igor denying Towser's existence in the castle to the ever-suspicious Duckula who knows nothing of the werewolf.

The Count Duckula discs are in Region 0, PAL format. The first series was released on Region 1 DVD on 4 October 2005. Series 2, 3, and 4 have, as of 2023, not been released in North America. A Spanish format for Latin America was released.[9][10]

During the show's original run, Count Duckula episodes were released on numerous VHS titles from Thames Video collection, often in a different sequence than what was shown in the TV.

This VHS title appeared in 1990 but, at the time, the episodes contained were somewhat exclusive to video (the first was not televised until 1991, neither was the latter until 1993).

Count Duckula episodes were also released on special VHS compilations with episodes of other series. In 1989, the episode "Down under Duckula" was released on Thames' VHS title More Children's Summer Stories, with episodes from Danger Mouse and The Wind in the Willows. In 2001, in the twilight years of VHS, the episodes "The Ghost of Castle McDuckula" and "Venice a Duck, Not a Duck!" were featured on two Cult Kids collection tapes, with episodes of Rainbow, Chorlton and the Wheelies, Button Moon, and Jamie and the Magic Torch.

Between 1988 and 1991 Marvel Comics distributed 15 issues of Count Duckula comics.[11]

Count Duckula appeared in North American comics under Star Comics (an imprint of Marvel Comics) and introduced an additional difference between this incarnation of Duckula which separated him from his predecessors. Due to ketchup being used in the resurrection ceremony, this version of Duckula has ketchup, rather than blood, flowing through his veins. This was discovered when Duckula was given a blood test in order to get a passport into a fictional country which produced a salad which Duckula was obsessed with getting to eat. In the same issue, Duckula, Nanny, and Igor were photographed as a means of formal ID for said country; however, due to the classic stereotype of vampires not appearing in film, Duckula did not appear in the photo which was taken. Duckula also gained a romantic interest in the Star Comics run; Vanna Von Goosewing, who turned out to be the niece of his long time adversary Dr. Von Goosewing. The attraction was mutual, and the two continued their relationship through the majority of the series after their introduction, though Vanna didn't always appear in every issue of the book.[12]

In Germany, a separate adaptation was produced under license as Graf Duckula, with script by Peter Mennigen and artwork by Miroslava Pollmer and Rüdiger Pareike.

In the early 1990s at least two episodes were released in audiobook format on cassette tape with accompanying illustrated hardcover book featuring artwork from the original television episodes. They featured the original cast in new performances as they were edited considerably from the original television scripts for a shorter duration, removal of visual gags and the addition of new narration and character exposition where necessary. The "Restoration Comedy" episode was packaged with a small plastic Count Duckula figure in some territories.

• No Sax Please, We're Egyptian
• Restoration Comedy
• The Ghost of Castle McDuckula

Alternative Software released a computer game based on Count Duckula called "No Sax Please, We're Egyptian!". In the game, Igor, Nanny and Count Duckula have decided to search the tomb of the great Pharaoh Upanatem (a pun on "up and at 'em") to find the mystic saxophone. What they do not know is that they have brought along some unwanted guests in the form of the Crow brothers.

The game was a basic jump and run platform-type game. At the start, the castle was transported to an ancient pyramid. Then, players had a set amount of time to go through the pyramid, evading the various baddies inside the pyramid, to retrieve the mystic sax before the Count's castle automatically returns to Transylvania, leaving the player stranded in Egypt.

The title of the game was a parody on the title of a British comedy play No Sex Please, We're British!.

The game was available for various 8-bit computers such as the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, & Amstrad CPC, and was also released as a "Kid's Pack" with other TV shows that Alternative Software turned into games, including Postman Pat, Sooty and Sweep, Popeye 2, The Wombles, and SuperTed. Alternative Software was one of the few software companies of the 1980s that still survives today as an independent software producer.

There was also a Count Duckula 2 sequel in 1992.