King Rollo facts for kids

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.

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)