The Ink Black Heart is an animated series set in London’s famous Highgate Cemetery. It was co-created by animators Edie Ledwell and Josh Blay. The episodes originally aired on YouTube in 2010 but moved to Netflix in June 2012. In January 2015, a contract was signed for Maverick Film Studios to make a full-length feature film.

Story and Episodes

There are 42 episodes of The Ink Black Heart. The cartoon is about what goes on in Highgate Cemetery after dark and involves the characters Harty, Paperwhite, Magspie, The Worm, Drek, and the Lord and Lady Wyrdy-Grobs skeletons.

The first episodes starts with Paperwhite (“Sad, so very sad”) before Harty makes his first appearance out of the ground. The episode ends with the iconic line, “We’re dead. Things can only get better.”

Characters

Harty – A black heart that escapes from its owner’s chest and emerges into Highgate Cemetery. The black colour represents the corruption from the evil owner’s body. Harty strives to be a good heart, despite his owner being bad when alive. Harty suffers with regular palpitations. He has no legs and is sometimes kicked by Drek. Harty is voiced by Josh Blay.

Paperwhite – Paperwhite is a female ghost who Harty falls in love with. Paperwhite consistently rejects his love. She is jealous of her living sister, who likes going to parties.

Drek – An ominous figure with a nose in the shape of a plague doctor’s mask. Drek jumps from gravestone to gravestone until he comes across another character who get gets to play his “game”, which usually involves the death of that person. Drek was voiced by YouTuber Wally Cardew before being replaced by actor Michael David.

The Worm – A worm is a character whose job it is to eat away at corpses, so has put on a lot of weight. Originally voiced by Timothy Ashcroft, friend of Edie and Josh, before being replaced when the series moved to Netflix.

Magspie – A magpie who lives in a nest on one of Highgate Cemetery’s obelisks. Magspie is constantly in pain from stealing objects too heavy to life. Originally voiced by Preston Pierce, friend of Josh Blay.

Lord and Lady Wyrdy-Grobs – Two skeletons, married in life, whose tombs are in the Circle of Lebanon. Their bones randomly drop off. They maintain the delusion that they are still healthy and beautiful.

Language

“Bwah” – A term frequently used by Drek when he’s trying to get other characters to play his game. “Play the game, bwah!”

“Smuglik” and “mukfluk” – These are terms used as insults.

“Gruesog” – An insult that possibly means “ugly”.

“Madsick” – A term that possibly means crazy or mentally ill.

Fandom

Fans of the cartoon call themselves Inkhearts.

Two fans of the cartoon created a fan website called Drek’s Game, which is half game and half chatroom.