American scholarship student Nina Martin arrives at her new school: an English boarding school with a dormitory named after the Egyptian god of death, Anubis. Upon her arrival, fellow student Joy suddenly mysteriously vanishes from the school. When Joy's friends, Nina's new housemates, confront her about Joy's disappearance, suspicion quickly turns to the groundskeeper of Anubis House, Victor. Nina and the other students embark on a quest to unearth what happened to Joy while uncovering a world of mystery in the process. House of Anubis is a British tween series full of peculiar mysteries and strange goings on that the members of the house attempt to uncover whilst ancient supernatural forces are at work. Personally, I grew up watching this show and I loved it, always making sure to catch it after school for the entire course of its run. Admittedly, now looking back it has some truly cringy acting on display and some over-dramatics but I just kind of overlook it with being a part of my childhood and falling into that guilty pleasure category. The premise of the show is an extremely interesting one that sees a large focus delving into Egyptian history and mystical artefacts that seems to call upon some of the curious students. We follow each member of the house on their own interweaving stories that culminate in the season finale. The main focus resides around Nina, Fabian, Amber, Patricia and Alfie, who form the club Sibuna (Anubis backwards), and they work together to uncover these many enigmas. Other members of the house include Jerome, Mara, Mick, house mother Trudy, (with later additions) Eddie, Willow and KT. Each one has their own traits and characteristics from the comedian, the athlete to the studious one, everyone has unique attributes with individual plot lines to match. My favourite character from this series has to be Victor, the caretaker of the house who is easily the most interesting of them all and has the best acting. Victor is a kind of morally ambiguous character in a way going from being depicted as somewhat of a bad guy with his hunt for eternal life and his lengths to obtain it however, when it comes to the safety and care of the students, he protects them at all costs, which is very admirable. If anything he isn't a villain of sorts but just grumpy. He also has the most iconic line of the program that is frequently recited throughout the show, "It's 10 o'clock. You have 5 minutes precisely. And then, I want to hear a pin drop." That's not all as another highlight from Victor is his care for his stuffed raven, Corbierre, who he talks to in his office. Finally, there are the antagonists, who stop at nothing till they get what they want, which the students tend to discover before them. From the cunning Rufus Zeno, the evil spirit Senkhara to Ammut, many seek power that our protagonists must overcome. With each season, the stakes only grew, as well as the overall quality, which improved exponentially. The first season revolves around the disappearance of Joy and the unusual attitude of the teachers alongside the uncovering of secrets hidden within the very walls of the house thanks to a locket given to Nina by one of the old inhabitants of the house, Sarah. The Second takes a drastic improvement with some horror-like themed elements with the addition of the ghostly apparition of Senkhara who curses the Sibuna group into obtaining the Mask of Anubis, which requires a passing of many perilous tests. The Third and final season sees the return of a familiar face who has been mentioned countless times now turned agent of evil working to bring about the reign of Ammut by collecting sinners from both staff and students of Anubis. My personal favourite has to be the second season where it felt its strongest with the whole original cast returning and some extremely difficult tasks to surpass. The last episode of the show feels like a special, which wraps up the show in a neat bow to send off the many fantastic adventures. Overall, this is a blast from my past that I revisit and despite its flaws, I can still have an enjoyable time with it these many years later. A perfect program for any young teen audience looking for some thrills and heaps of mystery to keep you on your toes.
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