The show as a whole is set in a dark, six-floored fairy tale like tower which, from the opening titles, is situated on a small island in the middle of the sea. Every episode is introduced by the Caretaker, a person who only came there for a night's sleep prior to his imprisonment by a mysterious invisible female known as "The Voice". To earn his freedom, the Caretaker must trap as many children as the Voice deems worthy in groups of six brought to the tower by another captive, "Wiley Sneak" who are imprisoned at the top of the tower and must complete challenges together and against each other to move down each floor while gradually getting "trapped" supposedly within each floor of the tower for eternity, until one contestant is left standing and awarded with "the key of freedom" to escape from the tower and return home in the boat
Format
''Trapped!'' (2007-2009)
Six children begin at the top of "the tower" to complete one challenge per floor. They each wear a listening device known as a "Whisper Clip", and prior to every challenge, one Unfortunate is chosen through their Whisper Clip as the Saboteur. It is then that unfortunate's job to sabotage the challenge without being detected by the other contestants, along with guidance from The Voice. After every challenge, if the team pass the challenge, the rest of the team minus the Saboteur move down one floor in the tower, with that child being eliminated and "Trapped" on that floor in the tower. If the team fail, however, every child votes for whoever they think was the Saboteur, and the one with the most votes is "trapped" instead. "Draw Straws" are used in the event of a tie, with whoever draws the shortest straw being the one trapped. This repeats on a floor-by-floor basis until there are only two Unfortunates remaining. The last round is a timed, alternating memory based quiz, consisting of a series of questions based on the events of the Unfortunates' time in the tower throughout the course of the episode. Whoever has the higher score wins the game, and "leaves" the tower, along with the Key Of Freedom.
''Trapped!: Ever After'' (2010)
For 2010, changes were made to the format of the programme, particularly in areas of themes, the games and interaction with the Unfortunates. As well as introducing a brand new room for the Caretaker, recaps were made of previously trapped unfortunates on higher floors of the tower and the appearance of the Voice was revised. The final round was also changed - get one question correct and you take one step towards the Key of Freedom. Get one question wrong and your opponent takes a step towards the Key Of Freedom.
Music
The music is written by Dobs Vye, a composer who specialises in writing for television.
Voice Cast
Simon Greenall as The Caretaker
Eve Karpf as The Voice
Faith Brown as The Voice
Olly Pike as Wiley Sneak
Helen Evans as Madame Deux Visage/Miss Mutternott/Ethel the Witch/The Crow Man
Eloise Dale as The Midnight Bride and the Frozen Princess
In 2009, a multiplayer online game was released after the end of the third series. This game contained some of the challenges from the show, slightly edited to fit the format. Players must first select an Unfortunate to play as, then move on. They are either chosen to be a saboteur in secret, or just get shown a picture of a clock and an otherwise blank screen. The voice gives hints to the saboteur throughout each separate game as to how to ruin the challenge. If the team passes, then they vote, but the saboteur is trapped; and if they fail miserably, then whoever gets the most votes is trapped. In the event of a tie, then two spotlights flash over the drawing players until only one remains on. The player under the remaining spotlight is trapped in the tower forever. The cartoon-style characters used in the game parody the opening. As of 2019, the game is no longer available to play on the CBBC website.
