Roland Rat
Encyclopedia
Roland Rat is a British television
puppet
character. He was created, operated and voiced by David Claridge, who had previously been behind the Mooncat
puppet in the Children's ITV television programme Get Up and Go!
David worked for Jim Henson, then the second series of The Young Ones
. He would later operate and voice "Brian the Dinosaur" for BBC's Parallel 9
, create and direct 'Happy Monsters' a pre school series for Channel 5 and shoot a CGI
series 'Mozart's Dog' for Paramount Comedy
.
Roland lived beneath King's Cross railway station in The Ratcave . He had an infant brother called Little Reggie , and had a girlfriend: Glenis the Guinea Pig
. His colleagues included dour Welsh technical whizz Errol the Hamster
, and over-enthusiastic self-appointed "number one ratfan" Kevin the Gerbil, who supposedly came from Leeds
and loved pink buckets. Claridge actually voiced all three main characters: Roland Rat, Errol the Hamster and Kevin The Gerbil; and they often appeared on screen together. Roland Rat's car 'the Ratmobile' is a bright pink 1953 Ford Anglia
.
Roland Rat was introduced to ailing breakfast television
network TV-am
by Anne Wood
and was 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. One notable highlight during this period was the visit of the late Austrian racing driver Roland Ratzenberger
who appeared on the show in a motor race against the Ratmobile ending with Ratzenberger's car being sabotaged by his near-namesake. Between 1983 and 1985, Roland had three UK chart hit singles including "Rat Rapping" and an album The Cassette Of The Album. An LP version of the recording, The Album Of The Cassette was released concurrently. The cassette recording claimed to be the LP recording, and vice versa. Each of the main characters contributed a song: Kevin the Gerbil's were My Rowland and Pink Bucket Reggae, Reggie's song was It's great here, innit, and Errol the Hamster contributed Leeks Are Wonderful, Leeks Are Nice. A follow-up LP, Living Legend was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman
. Kevin the Gerbil also had a top 50 single.
Arguably Roland Rat's golden age was his Christmas show Roland's Countdown to Christmas in 1984. TV-AM sold Roland Rat advent calendars, with Roland opening each door with the viewers at 7.20am every day. The final show had Roland and his chums in the snow. The following year at Easter, Roland Rat hosted the show Roland Rat in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
In 1985 he transferred to the BBC
where he had a number of shows through the late 1980s, most notably Roland Rat the Series, a chat show set in Roland's sewer home, now converted into a high-tech media centre the Ratcave. In a similar manner to The Muppet Show
and its sequels, the show would intersperse the chat show segments with a storyline involving some sort of situation "behind the scenes".
These series also featured Roland's parents, Iris and Freddie, his pet flea Colin, and his agent D'Arcy De Farcy. His girlfriend Glennis was replaced at this time with a flashier character called Roxanne Rat.
He also appeared in two spoof drama series, Tales of the Rodent Sherlock Holmes, in which he played Holmes
with Kevin as Dr Watson
, and Ratman, a Batman
spoof with Kevin as his sidekick, "Pink Bucket Man". During Christmas 1985, British Telecom operated a free "ratphone" number on 0800 800 800.
In the late 1990s he reemerged on Channel 5, in LA Rat, which featured Roland and his friends touring Los Angeles
. Roland made another brief return in early 2003 as a guest presenter of CiTV
.
Roland appeared on Big Brother UK 2004 in a task that involved the housemates playing a version of 20 Questions in order to guess the identity of various celebrities. While the celebrities could only answer questions with 'Yes' or 'No', housemate Stuart did not recognize Roland even after his identity was revealed.
In December 2007 Roland Rat appeared on a puppet special of the Weakest Link
hosted by Anne Robinson
which was originally broadcast on Friday 28 December 2007 at 18:00GMT on BBC One
. Roland reached the final round with Soo
from The Sooty Show
which went to sudden death after initially drawing with four points each. Roland ultimately lost out to Soo's superior wisdom in the tense final standoff.
Roland appeared in the third episode of the second series of Ashes to Ashes
. This appearance was anachronistic, as the show is set in 1982 whereas Roland didn't debut until the following year.
In 2008, Roland released a Christmas single, "Ding Dong Ding Dong (Christmas Down The Drain)" featuring Kevin, Errol and Reggie, available for download.
On the 11th of February 2010, whilst making an appearance on BBC's 'The One Show' to answer a question about how children's programmes have changed over the years, Roland Rat spent so much time joking about the presenters (Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley) that Adrian ended the interview before he answered the question.
He has also offered to save struggling ITV breakfast show Daybreak
by stepping in and repeating the astonishing turnaround he achieved in the 1980s for TV-am.
produced a game called Roland's Rat Race for the ZX Spectrum
and Commodore 64
. The player had to guide Roland through the sewer
s of London and collect nine pieces of a door which, when complete, would allow him to rescue his companions in time for an appearance on TV-am. Roland had to avoid enemies in the form of animated wellington boot
s which could be temporarily incapacitated with a squirt of glue
, which could also be used to stop tube trains
in order to ride on them.
In November 2010, Asda
's George Clothing "teamed-up" with Roland to launch a new range of rat-themed clothing, including a pair of "superstar lounge pants".
British television
Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
character. He was created, operated and voiced by David Claridge, who had previously been behind the Mooncat
Mooncat
Mooncat was a puppet character who, as his name suggests, was a cat from the moon. He appeared on Children's ITV from 1981 to 1985 in the series Get Up and Go! and the follow-up Mooncat and Co produced by Yorkshire Television....
puppet in the Children's ITV television programme Get Up and Go!
Mooncat
Mooncat was a puppet character who, as his name suggests, was a cat from the moon. He appeared on Children's ITV from 1981 to 1985 in the series Get Up and Go! and the follow-up Mooncat and Co produced by Yorkshire Television....
David worked for Jim Henson, then the second series of The Young Ones
The Young Ones (TV series)
The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...
. He would later operate and voice "Brian the Dinosaur" for BBC's Parallel 9
Parallel 9
Parallel 9 was a British children's television entertainment show that broadcast from 1992 to 1994. A total of three series - one in each year - was produced, and each series ran for up to twenty-two weeks Parallel 9 (commonly known as 'P9') was a British children's television entertainment show...
, create and direct 'Happy Monsters' a pre school series for Channel 5 and shoot a CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
series 'Mozart's Dog' for Paramount Comedy
Paramount Comedy
Paramount Comedy is a 24-hour Spanish cable television and satellite television comedy channel available in Spain. It is owned by MTV Networks Europe and Viacom. In other parts of the world, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy, the channel is known as Comedy Central...
.
Roland lived beneath King's Cross railway station in The Ratcave . He had an infant brother called Little Reggie , and had a girlfriend: Glenis the Guinea Pig
Guinea pig
The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...
. His colleagues included dour Welsh technical whizz Errol the Hamster
Hamster
Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera....
, and over-enthusiastic self-appointed "number one ratfan" Kevin the Gerbil, who supposedly came from Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and loved pink buckets. Claridge actually voiced all three main characters: Roland Rat, Errol the Hamster and Kevin The Gerbil; and they often appeared on screen together. Roland Rat's car 'the Ratmobile' is a bright pink 1953 Ford Anglia
Ford Anglia
The 1949 model, code E494A, was a makeover of the previous model with a rather more 1940s style front-end, including the sloped, twin-lobed radiator grille. Again it was a very spartan vehicle and in 1948 was Britain's lowest priced four wheel car....
.
Roland Rat was introduced to ailing breakfast television
Breakfast television
Breakfast television or morning show , is a type of infotainment television program, broadcast live in the morning...
network TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
by Anne Wood
Anne Wood
Anne Wood CBE is a British children’s television producer.She was born in Spennymoor, County Durham, England and grew up in Tudhoe Colliery, a small coalmining village nearby.-Her Teaching Years:...
and was 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. One notable highlight during this period was the visit of the late Austrian racing driver Roland Ratzenberger
Roland Ratzenberger
Roland Ratzenberger was an Austrian racing driver who raced in Formula Nippon, Formula 3000 and Formula One...
who appeared on the show in a motor race against the Ratmobile ending with Ratzenberger's car being sabotaged by his near-namesake. Between 1983 and 1985, Roland had three UK chart hit singles including "Rat Rapping" and an album The Cassette Of The Album. An LP version of the recording, The Album Of The Cassette was released concurrently. The cassette recording claimed to be the LP recording, and vice versa. Each of the main characters contributed a song: Kevin the Gerbil's were My Rowland and Pink Bucket Reggae, Reggie's song was It's great here, innit, and Errol the Hamster contributed Leeks Are Wonderful, Leeks Are Nice. A follow-up LP, Living Legend was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...
. Kevin the Gerbil also had a top 50 single.
Arguably Roland Rat's golden age was his Christmas show Roland's Countdown to Christmas in 1984. TV-AM sold Roland Rat advent calendars, with Roland opening each door with the viewers at 7.20am every day. The final show had Roland and his chums in the snow. The following year at Easter, Roland Rat hosted the show Roland Rat in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
In 1985 he transferred to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
where he had a number of shows through the late 1980s, most notably Roland Rat the Series, a chat show set in Roland's sewer home, now converted into a high-tech media centre the Ratcave. In a similar manner to The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
and its sequels, the show would intersperse the chat show segments with a storyline involving some sort of situation "behind the scenes".
These series also featured Roland's parents, Iris and Freddie, his pet flea Colin, and his agent D'Arcy De Farcy. His girlfriend Glennis was replaced at this time with a flashier character called Roxanne Rat.
He also appeared in two spoof drama series, Tales of the Rodent Sherlock Holmes, in which he played Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
with Kevin as Dr Watson
John Watson (Sherlock Holmes)
John H. Watson, M.D. , known as Dr. Watson, is a character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Watson is Sherlock Holmes's friend, assistant and sometime flatmate, and is the first person narrator of all but four stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon.-Name:Doctor Watson's first...
, and Ratman, a Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
spoof with Kevin as his sidekick, "Pink Bucket Man". During Christmas 1985, British Telecom operated a free "ratphone" number on 0800 800 800.
In the late 1990s he reemerged on Channel 5, in LA Rat, which featured Roland and his friends touring Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Roland made another brief return in early 2003 as a guest presenter of CiTV
CITV
CITV is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network .The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00...
.
Roland appeared on Big Brother UK 2004 in a task that involved the housemates playing a version of 20 Questions in order to guess the identity of various celebrities. While the celebrities could only answer questions with 'Yes' or 'No', housemate Stuart did not recognize Roland even after his identity was revealed.
In December 2007 Roland Rat appeared on a puppet special of the Weakest Link
Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a British television quiz show, currently broadcast on BBC Two. It was devised by Mr Wilton and Euan Green and Cathy Dunning, and developed for television by the BBC Entertainment Department. It has since been replicated around the world. The UK version is hosted by Anne...
hosted by Anne Robinson
Anne Robinson
Anne Josephine Robinson is an English journalist and television presenter, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British consumer affairs series, Watchdog, from 1993 to 2001 before returning in 2009...
which was originally broadcast on Friday 28 December 2007 at 18:00GMT on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. Roland reached the final round with Soo
Soo (puppet)
Soo is a British puppet and TV character popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. Soo was first featured on The Sooty Show as the girlfriend of the main puppet character Sooty in 1964....
from The Sooty Show
Sooty & Co.
Sooty & Co is a British children's television series that was aired on ITV from 1993 to 1998 for six series, replacing the 37 year old Sooty Show. The programme centres on Matthew Corbett, and puppets Sooty, Sweep, Soo and Scampi, as they try to run a shop in Manchester. In 1998 Matthew Corbett...
which went to sudden death after initially drawing with four points each. Roland ultimately lost out to Soo's superior wisdom in the tense final standoff.
Roland appeared in the third episode of the second series of Ashes to Ashes
Ashes to Ashes (TV series)
Ashes to Ashes is a British science fiction and police procedural drama television series, serving as the sequel to Life on Mars.The series began airing on BBC One in February 2008. A second series began broadcasting in April 2009...
. This appearance was anachronistic, as the show is set in 1982 whereas Roland didn't debut until the following year.
In 2008, Roland released a Christmas single, "Ding Dong Ding Dong (Christmas Down The Drain)" featuring Kevin, Errol and Reggie, available for download.
On the 11th of February 2010, whilst making an appearance on BBC's 'The One Show' to answer a question about how children's programmes have changed over the years, Roland Rat spent so much time joking about the presenters (Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley) that Adrian ended the interview before he answered the question.
He has also offered to save struggling ITV breakfast show Daybreak
Daybreak (ITV)
Daybreak is the weekday breakfast television programme on the British commercial ITV network that broadcasts on weekday mornings from 06:00 to 08:30 and is currently presented by Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley from Monday to Thursday with Dan Lobb and Kate Garraway on Fridays...
by stepping in and repeating the astonishing turnaround he achieved in the 1980s for TV-am.
TV-am serials (selected)
- The Shedvision Show (1983)
- Rat on the Road (1983) introduced Errol the Hamster in the final edition although Roland had ordered him by walkie-talkie to "Run VT" whenever it was time for the cartoon to air.
- Roland's Winter Wonderland (1983) - filmed in Switzerland
- Roland Goes East (1984) - filmed in Hong Kong. Introduced Little Reggie
- Rat on the Road II (1984) - featured Kevin's cover of Summer HolidaySummer Holiday (song)"Summer Holiday" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and The Shadows, written by rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch and drummer Brian Bennett. It went to number one in the UK. It is taken from the film of the same name and is one of Richard's best known titles...
and Roland's of Love Me TenderLove Me Tender (song)"Love Me Tender" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and published by Elvis Presley Music, adapted from the tune of "Aura Lee" , a sentimental Civil War ballad.- History :...
. - Operation FOGI (1984) - introduced Glenis the Guinea Pig who was rescued from the pet department in Harrod as a result of Operation FOGI (Free Our Glenis Immediately)
- Roland's Countdown to Christmas (1984) - featured Roland and friends singing a rewritten version of The Twelve Days of Christmas 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 (1985) - featured the first appearance of the late James SaxonJames SaxonJames Saxon was a British character actor. He often played aristocrats or middle class characters.Having trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made a career on screen with leading parts in television series such as the BBC adaptation of Vanity Fair , the ITV comedy Brass , the brief...
as Roland's incompetent PA D'Arcy De Farcey. - OWRRAS (1985) - This stood for Official Worlwide Roland Rat Appreciation Society. Broadcast in the summer of 1985, a studio based programme like The Shedvision Show and the half-term series Roland Live. The last TV-am Roland Rat serial.
The video game
In 1985 Ocean SoftwareOcean Software
The British company Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s...
produced a game called Roland's Rat Race for the ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
and Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
. The player had to guide Roland through the sewer
Sanitary sewer
A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...
s of London and collect nine pieces of a door which, when complete, would allow him to rescue his companions in time for an appearance on TV-am. Roland had to avoid enemies in the form of animated wellington boot
Wellington boot
The Wellington boot, also known as rubber-boots, wellies, wellingtons, topboots, billy-boots, gumboots, gummies, barnboots, wellieboots, muckboots, sheepboots, shitkickers, or rainboots are a type of boot based upon leather Hessian boots...
s which could be temporarily incapacitated with a squirt of glue
Glue
This is a list of various types of glue. Historically, the term "glue" only referred to protein colloids prepared from animal flesh. The meaning has been extended to refer to any fluid adhesive....
, which could also be used to stop tube trains
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
in order to ride on them.
Merchandise
The Roland Rat soft toy was very popular with children in the 1980s. He also appeared on mugs, and a range of children's glasses made by Dolland and Aitchison, amongst other things.In November 2010, Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
's George Clothing "teamed-up" with Roland to launch a new range of rat-themed clothing, including a pair of "superstar lounge pants".
UK releases
| VHS title | Release date | Video special |
|---|---|---|
| Roland Rat Superstar and Friends: Rat on the Road | 1984 | Roland, Kevin, and Errol read Roland's dairy about how he and Kevin travel around Great Britian for six weeks to Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, Oxford, New Castle and York. |
| Roland Rat Superstar and Friends in Winter Wonderland | 1984 | Roland and his friends travel to Winter Wonderland in their hilarious adventure |
| Roland Rat: The Series (BBCV 4165) | 1988 | Roland and his friends make TV stars on their hilarious BBC show. |
- Thorn EMIThorn EMIThorn EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music, defence and retail. Created in October 1979 when Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but it demerged again in...
(1984-1988) - BBC Video (1988)
- Contender Entertainment Group (2003)
- Digital Classics DVDDigital Classics DVDDigital Classics DVD Limited is a UK-based DVD label which releases titles in the UK and worldwide across a range of genres: music, arts, documentaries, dramas and classic British comedy...
(2010)
External links
- Ratfans.com Roland Rat and Friends Site - An Unofficial Roland Rat and Friends Site