"Bum and chips."
— Robin to the other ghosts, Getting Out
Robin is the ghost of a caveman and the oldest ghost at Button House. He is portrayed by Laurence Rickard, who also plays Humphrey's Head.
Biography[]
History[]
Robin's name in life was Rogh.[2]He was born about 12,000 years ago, making him the oldest ghost at Button House, and older than the House itself, by far. When asked where, he replies with "Dunno".[3] His people were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived to the area by walking from what would later be the European continent, before the English Channel formed and separated Great Britain from the mainland.[4]
In his time, the place later occupied by Button House had either a rock formation or a megalithic complex that held religious significance for his people, the Moonah Ston, that was used in their Moonah Ston Ritual every lunar eclipse. Robin claims that the layout of Moonah Ston was copied by the people who built Stonehenge.
Robin's people did not form couples and would have sex with whoever they wanted.[5] He claims to have sired at least thirty children this way,[6] including some with his own sister.[7] He also claims all inhabitants of Button House, ghosts and alive, descend from this incestuous union.[8]
One time, Robin fell asleep when he was guarding his tribe and a pack of wolves ate his family. He claims to have "not a regret but would do differently".[9] Another time he gave a useless tool to a man named Hat in exchange for the furs Hat was wearing. Undressed, Hat died of hypothermia while crossing a glacier, and his body was preserved in ice until modern times, when he was dubbed "the Ice Man".[10]
Death[]
The day he died, Robin and two friends were out hunting when they were attacked by a bear. His friends were killed but he escaped and climbed up a tree to hide. A storm gathered above and Robin was killed by a lightning strike. Robin's ghost gained the power to control electricity, likely related to his cause of death.
Afterward, he haunted the area for thousands of years, seeing mostly trees at first and then many houses that came and went. The tribes, farmers, the village of the plague ghosts, wars fought on the land, and illness. While the plague ghosts chose to retreat to the basement, Robin was joined upstairs by William, a Medieval ghost that called him "Rob",[11] and others named Clarence, Elizabeth, and Godrick. All other ghosts were "sucked off" (moved on to the afterlife) while he stayed, leaving him unfazed by ghost losses while other ghosts react with fear, shock, and despair. When a ghost friend moves on, he names a star in the night sky after them.[12]
Robin witnessed the deaths of Humphrey, Thomas, Heather Button, and Julian, mockingly asking Humphrey if he had had a "bad day",[13] and loudly proclaiming "Ha! New guy!" when Julian stayed.[14] However, he was not present for The Captain's death, as neither were the others.[15]
Robin does not recall any living human being able to see him before Alison Cooper, only a bear. However, Barclay Beg-Chetwynde's knowledge of a legend about a "half-man, half-ape" creature haunting the grounds of Button House implies that at least one other living saw Robin in the preceding centuries.[16] He can also be seen and heard by Barclay's dogs, as do the other ghosts.[17]
Robin regularly plays chess with Julian and has become somewhat of an expert on the game. After Alison moves in he also fills newspaper crosswords as a passtime. He will also hide in any corner and scream 'boo' in order to startle Alison; at first this was part of the Captain's plot to make Alison and Mike Cooper leave the house, but he kept doing it for his own amusement.
Appearance[]
Robin looks like a stereotypical Stone Age caveman. His hair is wild, his beard is equally untamed, his forehead protrudes, and he is filthy. Robin is dressed in an array of skins and furs, some of which have been bound to his feet and calves as shoes.
Personality[]
While the other ghosts are mostly stuck in their ways, and by extension their eras, Robin is adaptable and interested in learning new things. He has watched human life for longer than everybody else, and over that time he developed his intellect. He learned to speak English, French, and some Russian from observing the inhabitants of Button House. While his grammar and pronunciation is not perfect, he is understandable and often makes puns - much to the chagrin of his fellow dead. He is arguably the smartest and wisest ghost due to his experience, even knowing Pythagoras and quoting Shakespeare.
Robin is one of the kindest and most considerate ghosts when he's not intentionally stirring up trouble, being second only to Pat. Having seen almost everything in his time, Robin has remained remarkably level-headed and often comes up with the best, most logical solution to a problem the others have exacerbated. He is excellent in a crisis and thinking outside of the box while remaining rational. However, he has been known to become childish and grumpy when disappointed.
Robin has a strong interest in space, stemming from his reverence for the Moon and the fact that the night stars stay while everything on Earth changes around him.
He has developed some form of attachment to Mary which almost turned romantic in About Last Night but ultimately they avoided the subject and left it with 'we cool'.
Powers[]
Robin has a special ability that allows him to cause electric lights to flicker and turn off, and with concentration he can cause them to burn out. He has been shown using his ghostly form as a sort of conduit to attract lightning, though this takes immense effort.
He seems to also have the ability to call nearby dogs by howling.
Quotes[]
- "Pushy or no pushy?" (Who Do You Think You Are?)
- "Oh! Argh! Eeh! Uh- box- move- go uh wheel- Auurgh- CAR!" (Who Do You Think You Are?)
- "Not just a pretty face." (Who Do You Think You Are?)
- "Never bored with chess board!" (Free Pass)
- "Me speak good." (Moonah Ston)
- "No moonah ston, no help lady." (Moonah Ston)
- "Before you, was moonah. Before house, was moonah. Everything come, everything go... but always there... moonah." (Moonah Ston)
- “Bum!” (Getting Out)
- “Ahhhhh….. bum…. or neck…. or leg. First choice bum!!” (Getting Out)
- ”Course, I’m not animal” (Getting out)
- ”¿EY YOU WANT SOME” (Getting Out)
- ”Ooo Chips!!!!! Bum and chips!!” (Getting Out)
- "Michelle driving car, Nathaniel look nice in next chair uh eeh ah … and then they do it. I'd buy that." (Getting Out)
- "Ticket!" (The Grey Lady)
- "Let it all out, I always feel better after a little cry." (About Last Night)
- "Monopoly is a trap." (Perfect Day)
- "No. It take ten thousand year get this smart. I not give you shortcut.[2]
Trivia[]
- His favorite food was Bum.[3]
- His favorite drink was river water.[3]
- His favorite sport is chess, also is his favorite musical.[9]
- His fondest memory was when Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis in the '85 World Snooker Championship.[9]
- His favorite song is 'Get Down Tonight' by KC and the Sunshine Band.
- Robin's character was developed after creators noticed that ghosts in fiction tend to be, at most, from the Tudor era, which prompted the question of where cavemen ghosts are.
- His favourite artist is KC and the Sunshine Band, and his favourite song is called "Get Down Tonight".[3]
- The idea of Robin being fluent in French came from an early reading where Laurence Rickard was told that his "caveman voice" sounded like a gruff Frenchman.
- His foreign counterparts are Thorfinn (US), Tayac (FR), Urs (DE), and Vangelis (GR).
- He doesn't have a counterpart in Ghosts Australia due to an unexplained reluctance to feature Aboriginal Australian ghosts in the show, though this is likely due to cultural taboos around portrayals of deceased indigenous Australians as being disrespectful to the dead.
Gallery[]
Promos[]
Notes[]
- ↑ In the 'Button House Archives' a timeline shows Robin lived 'about' 10,000 BCE.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Speak as ye choose"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Page 48 of Button House Archives
- ↑ "Home"
- ↑ Redding Weddy
- ↑ Perfect Day
- ↑ "The Thomas Thorne Affair"
- ↑ Not as bold a claim as it sounds; the most recent common ancestor of all modern humans most likely lived no more than 3,000 years ago, and there is a point further back, thought to be around 10-15,000 years ago, beyond which every individual is either a common ancestor to all humans, or has no living descendants at all.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Page 49 of Button House Archives.
- ↑ Happy Holiday
- ↑ En Francais
- ↑ Gone Gone
- ↑ The Bone Plot
- ↑ A Lot to Take In
- ↑ Carpe Diem
- ↑ Moonah Ston
- ↑ Bump In The Night