Roland Rat, The Series, 1986
Roland Rat was a popular puppet character who had made his debut on TVam. In 1985 the character switched sides to the BBC.
The original contract was set to run for three years, but ended up being extended to six years. Roland said, “I saved TVam and now I’m here to save the BBC.”
During his time at the BBC he made a number of series the most notable of which was Roland Rat, The Series, which ran for 27 (including a Christmas Special) episodes over two series. The 2 series were broadcast in 1986 and 1988.
Summary
Roland Rat, The Series took the form of a chat show.
The setting was Roland’s sewer home, now converted into a high-tech media centre called the Ratcave. The show would intersperse the chat show segments with a storyline involving some sort of situation “behind the scenes”.
The series also featured Roland’s parents, Iris and Freddie, his pet flea Colin, Fergie the Ferret, Eric the Eagle and his agent D’Arcy De Farcy. His girlfriend Glenis was joined by another female character called Roxanne Rat.
The series purported to be broadcast from Roland’s personal channel BBC3, complete with “THREE” ident spoofing BBC2’s “TWO” ident of the time.
Clips
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Starring
Roland Rat
Details
Channel: BBC1
Original Transmission Dates:
6th September – 29th November 1986 (series 1)
25th December 1986 (Christmas Special)
18th April – 25th July 1988