King Rollo

For the tenth-century Viking ruler, see Rollo of Normandy.

King Rollo
Genre	Animation
Written by	David McKee
Narrated by	Ray Brooks
Composer	Duncan Lamont
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Running time	5 minutes
Production company	King Rollo Films
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	1 October (1980-10-01) – 24 December 1980 (1980-12-24)

King Rollo is a children's character, created by David McKee in 1980. He is the main character in a series of books, animations^[1] 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, where the character is the company's mascot and namesake, and were originally shown as part of the pre-school 'See-Saw' strand.

Rollo himself is a childlike king who is always in need of advice and assistance from his friends. Among these are 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.^[2]

The animations used the same colourful cut-out paper look as McKee's other works, such as Mr Benn. The 2D animation style saved on production costs.^[3] The characters' legs would rotate outwards when walking until they were at right-angles to the sides of their body.^{[clarification needed]}

Episodes

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"The Bread"	1 October 1980 (1980-10-01)
2	"The Playroom"	8 October 1980 (1980-10-08)
3	"The Bath"	15 October 1980 (1980-10-15)
4	"The Dishes"	22 October 1980 (1980-10-22)
5	"The New Shoes"	29 October 1980 (1980-10-29)
6	"The Breakfast"	5 November 1980 (1980-11-05)
7	"The Tree"	12 November 1980 (1980-11-12)
8	"The Comic"	19 November 1980 (1980-11-19)
9	"King Frank"	26 November 1980 (1980-11-26)
10	"The Birthday"	3 December 1980 (1980-12-03)
11	"The Balloons"	10 December 1980 (1980-12-10)
12	"The Search"	17 December 1980 (1980-12-17)
13	"The Dog"	24 December 1980 (1980-12-24)

Books

• King Rollo and the New Shoes (1979)
• King Rollo and the Bread (1979)
• King Rollo and the Birthday (1979)
• King Rollo and the Balloons (1980)
• King Rollo and the Tree (1980)
• King Rollo and the Dishes (1980)
• King Rollo and the Bath (1981)
• King Rollo and King Frank (1981)
• King Rollo and the Search (1981)
• King Rollo and the Playroom (1982)
• King Rollo and the Breakfast (1982)
• King Rollo and the Dog (1982)
• King Rollo and the Mask (1982)
• King Rollo's Letter and Other Stories (1984): collection containing: King Rollo and the Letter; King Rollo and the Bush; King Rollo and the Present; King Rollo and the Tent
• King Rollo's Winter (1986): board book
• King Rollo's Spring (1987): board book
• King Rollo's Summer (1988): board book
• King Rollo's Autumn (1988): board book
• King Rollo and Santa's Beard (1990): also published as King Rollo's Christmas
• King Rollo and the New Stockings (2001)

Collections

• The Adventures of King Rollo (1982): King Rollo and the New Shoes; King Rollo and the Birthday; King Rollo and the Bread; King Rollo and the Tree
• The Further Adventures of King Rollo (1983): King Rollo and the Dishes; King Rollo and the Balloons; King Rollo and King Frank; King Rollo and the Search
• King Rollo's Playroom and Other Stories (1984): King Rollo and the Playroom; King Rollo and the Breakfast; King Rollo and the Dog; King Rollo and the Mask
• The Adventures of King Rollo (2016): collection of separate hardback books containing: King Rollo and the New Shoes; King Rollo and the Bread; King Rollo and the Birthday; King Rollo and King Frank

References

1. British Book News. National Book League. 1981. p. 255.
2. Reading Time. Children's Book Council of Australia, New South Wales Branch. 1980. p. 24.
3. Steemers, Jeanette (2010). Creating preschool television : a story of commerce, creativity and curriculum. Basingstoke, England New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 239. ISBN 9780230274600.

External links

• King Rollo at IMDb
• Toonhound