King Rollo
King Rollo.jpg
Genre Animation
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of Series 01
No. of Episodes 13
Run Time Unknown
Network BBC One (CBBC
Duration 1 October –
24 December 1980

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.

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