Masters of puppets

EXCLUSIVE Rodent superstar celebrates

BY and

ROLAND Rat is celebrating the big 4-0 this year – and he’s still glovin’ life.

The rodent puppet became a household name after appearing on ailing TV-am in 1983.

And with Roland on board, alongside pals like Kevin the Gerbil and Errol the

Hamster, the show’s ratings soared from

100,000 to 1.8 million.

Roland, the creation of puppeteer David Claridge, effectively became the only rat to join a sinking ship. Here, we celebrate his milestone birthday and recall other TV puppet favourites.

karen.rockett@reachplc.com

ROLAND’S inventor David Claridge was just six when he wrote a little essay that was to define his life – about his dream of being a puppeteer one day. At the age of

12, he attended classes in mime and puppetry at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham before training as an actor, puppeteer and designer. His breakthrough moment in TV came when Mooncat, a puppet he’d created, apeared on ITV kids’ programme Get Up and Go! David was 30 when he created Roland – who lived under King’s Cross station – to help breathe new life into TV-am by attracting a younger audience. After two years, the lovable rodent was poached by the BBC before scuttling on to Channel 4 and Channel 5.

There were Roland Christmas specials, endless rat merchandise and even a stint on Big Brother.

Nowadays, his 70-year-old creator lives in California and will only give interviews as Roland, declaring: “It spoils the magic if it becomes all about me.”

So Roland continues, in his trademark accent that seems to range somewhere between Essex and Brummie: “Fans love the fact I put TV presenters in their place if they’re pompous.

“I’m currently thinking of selling meself to Netflix or Hulu.” He’s

David in series CREATOR