Nightmare-inducing British children’s characters you probably forgot about

Tove Jansson’s iconic Moomin series might seem like light-hearted fun for all ages, but one particular episode of the 1990 cartoon ended up unnerving several viewers. In episodes 6-8 of the series, the Moomins first encounter the monstrous Groke, searching for a shell. My sister regularly recounts how terrifying the original episode was simply due to the creature’s imposing figure and lack of dialogue. It was the emptiness and solitary stare, in which she never blinked, that ended up unnerving viewers.

One social media commentator noted: “This one was particularly scary, the Hufsa, or the Groke. It made everything cold and it growled. Traumatizing.” While a second added: “‘This Groke character is rather scary looking. Maybe we should try to make her harder to see for our network, so the kids don’t get scared’. Welp, mission failed. I remember The Groke being [the] scariest [expletive] thing ever, when I was a child.“

Broadcast between 1979 and 1984, Jigsaw was a show aimed at children aged between four and seven, however, it ended up having one of the most terrifying things to have ever been put on screen, Mr. Noseybonk. The character was known for his largely extended nose and toothy grin and despite being intended to entertain, he instead terrified.

Taking to social media, one said: “From 1980 to 1984, lighthearted Children’s BBC puzzle series/sketch show Jigsaw was haunted by NOSEYBONK. Intended to be a whimsical childlike innocent, he ended up terrifying kids, like Mr Bean directed by David Lynch,” and a second posted: “He has given me a LIFELONG fear of long noses. I’d managed to avoid seeing him for over 40 years and then last year there was a picture of him posted up on some reddit forum and that night I woke screaming. And twice more that week.”

Speaking to SyFy magazine in 2018, X Files writer Benjamin Van Allen revealed that the character was the inspiration for his Mr. Chuckleteeth character in the horror series. “Mr. Chuckleteeth was actually inspired by an old British kids TV show called Jigsaw,” he explained. “There’s a character in Jigsaw called Mr. Noseybonk. He kind of looks like Mr. Chuckleteeth a little bit, so that was the inspiration for me when I was writing the character. It was the starting point for the design, but we really made it our own thing. My inkling is that it might also have been the inspiration behind Jigsaw, the character in the Saw films.”

Even though he’s one of the heroes of his series, plenty of children have found talking scarecrow Worzel Gummidge absolutely terrifying. Whether it’s the nature of a scarecrow coming to life or his ability to remove his own head and keep speaking, many still shudder when they hear the theme. It’s not just the original that terrified viewers, as the reboot has attracted plenty of attention with some suggesting the character resembled classic horror villain Freddy Kreuger.

Reflecting on the series, one said: “I also used to find Aunt Sally scary as hell too – the whole thing just seemed to have an odd atmosphere to it. Wurzel was just weird, Aunt Sally seemed to hate him and that seemed to create a weird air of conflict,” while a second shared: “Scarier than 1970’s Dr Who. And that is saying something,” and a third penned: “The original was terrifying. Aunt Sally gave me nightmares for weeks and I refused to watch it after her introduction.“