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Roland Rat
Roland Rat is a British television puppet character. He was created, operated and voiced by David Claridge, who had previously designed and operated Mooncat, a puppet in the Children's ITV television programme Get Up and Go!.
Roland lives beneath King's Cross railway station in The Ratcave and also in Ratcavetwo under the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles. 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 and loves pink buckets. Roland's car 'the Ratmobile' is a bright pink 1953 Ford Anglia.
Roland had a brash and confident personality, which writer Colin Bostock-Smith states was established by Claridge and writer Richard Curtis.
Claridge 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 Rat was launched at TV-am by children's editor Anne Wood to give children entertainment during the Easter holidays. Roland first appeared on 1 April 1983 (Good Friday) on the ailing breakfast television network TV-am, 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.
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 in Camden. On the strength of this, Roland was soon given a regular slot every morning introducing cartoons for younger viewers.
Roland Rat's time at TV-am lasted 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 9:00 am. 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 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 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.
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Roland Rat
Roland Rat is a British television puppet character. He was created, operated and voiced by David Claridge, who had previously designed and operated Mooncat, a puppet in the Children's ITV television programme Get Up and Go!.
Roland lives beneath King's Cross railway station in The Ratcave and also in Ratcavetwo under the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles. 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 and loves pink buckets. Roland's car 'the Ratmobile' is a bright pink 1953 Ford Anglia.
Roland had a brash and confident personality, which writer Colin Bostock-Smith states was established by Claridge and writer Richard Curtis.
Claridge 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 Rat was launched at TV-am by children's editor Anne Wood to give children entertainment during the Easter holidays. Roland first appeared on 1 April 1983 (Good Friday) on the ailing breakfast television network TV-am, 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.
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 in Camden. On the strength of this, Roland was soon given a regular slot every morning introducing cartoons for younger viewers.
Roland Rat's time at TV-am lasted 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 9:00 am. 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 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 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.