King Rollo
King Rollo is a children's character, who was created by David McKee in 1980, starring in a series of books, animations narrated by Ray Brooks, and a comic strip in the magazine Buttons. Thirteen episodes of the animation were produced in 1980 by McKee's own King Rollo Films, and were originally shown as part of the pre-school 'See-Saw' strand.
| King Rollo | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animation |
| Written by | David McKee |
| Narrated by | Ray Brooks |
| Composer(s) | Duncan Lamont |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 5 minutes |
| Production company(s) | King Rollo Films |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Original release | 1 October – 24 December 1980 |
The central character of the stories was Rollo himself, a childlike king who was always in need of advice and assistance from his friends. Among these were The Magician (a father figure); Cook (the king's cook, a mother figure, who was arguably the real ruler of the kingdom); his neighbour and girlfriend, Queen Gwen; King Frank; and Rollo's cat, Hamlet, who was generally portrayed as wiser than Rollo himself.
The animations used the same colourful cut-out paper look as McKee's other works, such as Mr Benn. The characters' legs would rotate outwards when walking until they were at right-angles to the sides of their body.
Episode Listing
- The Bread (1 October 1980)
- The Playroom (8 October 1980)
- The Bath (15 October 1980)
- The Dishes (22 October 1980)
- The New Shoes (29 October 1980)
- The Breakfast (5 November 1980)
- The Tree (12 November 1980)
- The Comic (19 November 1980)
- King Frank (26 November 1980)
- The Birthday (3 December 1980)
- The Balloons (10 December 1980)
- The Search (17 December 1980)
- The Dog (24 December 1980)