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Roland Rat is a
British television
Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...
puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...
character. He was created, operated and voiced by David Claridge, who had previously designed and operated
Mooncat, a puppet in the
Children's ITV
CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...
television programme ''
Get Up and Go!'' Claridge worked for
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...
, then the second series of
''The Young Ones''. Claridge would later operate and voice Brian the Dinosaur for
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''
Parallel 9
''Parallel 9'' is a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 from 25 April 1992 to 17 September 1994. Airing on Saturday mornings, ''Parallel 9'' was the first BBC Saturday morning children's series to be produced by an independ ...
''; create and direct ''Happy Monsters'', a preschool series for Channel 5; and shoot a
CGI series, ''Mozart's Dog'', for
Paramount Comedy.
Character summary
Roland lives beneath
King's Cross railway station in The Ratcave and also in Ratcavetwo under the
Hollywood Sign
The Hollywood Sign is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Originally the Hollywoodland Sign, it is situated on Mount Lee, in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Santa Monica Mountains. Spelling ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. He has an infant brother called Little Reggie and had a relationship with a guinea pig called Glenis. His colleagues include dour Welsh technical whizz Errol the Hamster and over-enthusiastic self-appointed "number one ratfan" Kevin the Gerbil, who is from
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
and loves pink buckets. Claridge actually provides voices for all the main characters: Roland Rat, Errol the Hamster, Kevin The Gerbil, Little Reggie, Fergie the Ferret and Roland's father Freddy, as they often appear on screen together. Roland's car 'the Ratmobile' is a bright pink 1953
Ford Anglia
The Ford Anglia is a small family car that was designed and manufactured by Ford UK. It is related to the Ford Prefect and the later Ford Popular. The Anglia name was applied to various models between 1939 and 1967. In total, 1,594,486 Anglias ...
.
Roland had a brash and confident personality, which writer
Colin Bostock-Smith
Colin Bostock-Smith (born 1942)"I was born in 1942, so I was exactly the right age for rock and roll when it all happened./ref> is a British television and radio comedy writer.
Early career
Until the age of 30, he was a journalist, noting in a re ...
states was established by Claridge and writer
Richard Curtis
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...
.
TV-am
Roland Rat first appeared on 1 April 1983 (Good Friday) on the ailing
breakfast television
Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a ...
network
TV-am
TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...
, and is generally regarded as its saviour, being described as "the only rat to join a sinking ship". After a couple of months on TV-am, Roland took the audience from 100,000 to 1.8 million. Roland was launched at TV-am by Children's editor
Anne Wood to give kids entertainment during the Easter holidays.
Initially, Roland was featured as the host of ''The Shedvision Show'', ostensibly broadcast from a wooden shack on the roof of TV-am's studios. On the strength of this, Roland was soon given a regular slot every morning introducing cartoons for younger viewers.
Arguably Roland Rat's golden age on TV-am was the period from summer 1983 until summer 1985. During this period, Roland and friends would feature in a half-hour episode transmitted on school holiday weekdays on TV-am from 9.00am. The school summer holidays of 1983 and 1984 saw ''Rat on the Road'' in which Roland and Kevin would spend each week in a different town of the United Kingdom. One notable highlight during this period was the visit of Austrian racing driver
Roland Ratzenberger
Roland Ratzenberger (; 4 July 1960 – 30 April 1994) was an Austrian racing driver who raced in various categories of motorsport, including British Formula 3000, Japanese Formula 3000 and Formula One. Having had sporadic success throughout t ...
who appeared on the show in a motor race against the Ratmobile ending with Ratzenberger's car being sabotaged by his near-namesake.
The character of Errol the Hamster was gradually drafted in during the first year as a VT technician responsible for running the cartoons inserted into the show. Errol eventually joined Roland and Kevin on location at Christmas in 1983 for ''Roland's Winter Wonderland'' which saw Roland, Kevin and Errol enjoying a
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...
holiday together in Switzerland. The following year at Easter, Roland Rat hosted the show ''Roland Goes East'' set in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and covering the ill-fated film shoot of Roland's attempted movie debut, a martial arts film entitled ''Enter the Rodent''.
The half-term week of October 1984 saw ''Operation FOGI'' (Free Our Glenis Immediately) which revolved around the gang's attempts – eventually successful – to liberate Glenis The Guinea Pig from her life in the pets department of
Harrods
Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...
. Following enormous demand, the season was repeated across subsequent Sundays for the benefit of school pupils whose half term had not fallen the week of the series' transmission.
Christmas 1984 saw ''Roland's Countdown to Christmas''. TV-am sold Roland Rat advent calendars, with Roland opening each door with the viewers at 7.20am every day, The final door had Roland and his friends in the snow.
Roland last appeared on
TV-am
TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...
at the end of August 1985, when the last summer holiday slot was broadcast.
[Roland Rat joins Wogan at the BBC. By David Hewson, The Times Thursday, 3 Oct 1985; pg. 3]
TV-am serials (selected)
* The Spectacular Shedvision Show (Easter 1983) Set in a shed on the roof of the TVAM studios.
* Cartoon Time with Roland Rat (May half term 1983)
* Rat on the Road (Summer 1983) introduced Errol the Hamster in the final episode although Roland had ordered him by walkie-talkie to "Run VT" whenever it was time for the cartoon to air previously.
* Roland's Winter Wonderland (Christmas holidays 1983) – filmed in Switzerland
* Roland Goes East (Easter 1984) – filmed in Hong Kong. Introduced Little Reggie
* Rat on the Road II (Summer 1984) – featured Kevin's cover of
Summer Holiday and Roland's cover of
Love Me Tender.
* Operation FOGI (October half term 1984) – introduced Glenis the Guinea Pig who was rescued from the pet department in Harrods as a result of Operation FOGI (Free Our Glenis Immediately).
* Roland's Countdown to Christmas (December 1984) – featured Roland and friends singing a rewritten version of "
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, "Christmas Day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days a ...
" featuring such paraphernalia associated with the show as Kevin's pink bucket, Errol's favourite leek pie and a Roland Rat Superstar cap.
* Roland's Rat Race (Easter 1985) – A quiz show, featuring
James Saxon as Roland's incompetent friend and conman D'Arcy De Farcey.
* The OWRRAS Summer Spectacular (Summer 1985) – This stood for Official Worldwide Roland Rat Appreciation Society. Broadcast in the summer of 1985, a studio based programme like The Spectacular Shedvision Show and the half-term series Roland Live. The last TV-am Roland Rat series.
BBC
On 3 October 1985, he transferred to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, for a three-year contract, which ended up being extended to six years. Roland said, "I saved