Roger and the Rottentrolls started life as a book and audio tape, written by Tim Firth, commissioned by EMI and W.H. Smith, and produced by Robert Howes and The Childrens Company, intended as a 'spooky story' for children, part of a series of over 30 titles.
Tim's dad, Gordon, who had originally invented the characters, drew the designs for all the characters from which the puppets were made.
The series followed the adventures of Roger Beckett (aged
about 10½ 10¾) in Troller's Ghyll, "where the rocks are all slightly mad"; after crashing his bike in the valley, it is soon discovered that he is
The Chosen One and he was crowned King of the Rottentrolls. Cue four seasons of a pretty damn funny mix of live-action and puppetry. It won a BAFTA.
Examples of tropes:
- Blatant Lies: The Rottentroll National Anthem, which must be heard to be believed.
- British Brevity: Four seasons, 36 episodes. The first two seasons are on VHS and DVD... alternatively, you could just watch them on
YouTube. - Bungling Inventor:
- Call Back: At the end of the pilot, Roger tells the Narrator that he's never coming back to Troller's Ghyll, with the Narrator calmly assuring the viewer that he will, or his name isn't... Narrator. The second episode comes around, Roger's back, with Narrator immediately calling him out on his prior statement; Roger says he's just passing, the Narrator calls him out on that as well...
- Closer to Earth: Pretty much all the female characters are shown to be at least a little bit brighter than the boys, with Penyghent pretty much being the Only Sane Rottentroll. Not used too badly, what with Roger balancing things out as a pretty down-to-earth kid... until season 3, which introduced Kate, Roger's sister who pretty much ended up being a Canon Sue from day one, with her and Penyghent being The First Two Faces Of Eve pretty much every episode.
- God Guise: All one needs to do to become a God-king of the trolls is to stand in the middle of an abandoned quarry and yell "Roger was here", as the trolls had an ancient document (graffiti on the wall of the quarry) that said those exact words.
- Green Aesop: First Season, Episode 2: If you litter in the woods when you're out camping, then you're a stupid, thoughtless berk.
- Grumpy Old Man: Aysgarth is a pretty mild example.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Doc Martin is the Narrator; he is, of course, a prime example of a Lemony Narrator (with a good dollop of Deadpan Snarker thrown in, natch).
- I Know Kung-Faux: Jim-Jam Ya-HA! - The Secret Art of Combat without Contact... and the Old Master is a ram.
- Inept Mage: Trucklecrag, The Great But Slightly Disappointing Wizard Of The Rottentrolls. His spells usually make the valley full of dustbins.
- Lethal Chef: Kettlewell, The Dangerous Chef Of The Rottentrolls, who could rip old telephone directories with her bare hands. It would not be wise to criticise her garlic pasties...
- Merlin: He was the one who brought The Rottentrolls to Troller's Ghyll from Scandinavia (he was trying to make a ski resort for King Arthur) and named them (he actually called them "rotten trolls" but they were too dumb to realise it.
- Officer and a Gentleman: Commander Harris. He's a ram and is the local leader of the SAS - no, not the Special Air Services, the Silently Armed Sheep.
- Scarecrow Solution: In Season 1, Episode 2, "The Rubbish Monster": The Rottentrolls need to scare away some Jerk Asses who're camping (and littering) in their valley, so Yockenthwaite says he'll make a pretend Barguest to scare them away. Sure enough, the two get scared away by two big red eyes and scary noises. Yockenthwaite is proclaimed the hero of the day ... except that when Roger goes to congratulate him, it turns out Yockenthwaite didn't make the pretend Barguest because... well... it's Yockenthwaite. But something scared the campers away, and it's a full moon tonight so... Roger and Yockenthwaite agree to let everyone think Yockenthwaite didn't screw up as usual, so he ends up as the guest of honour at the celebratory feast.
- Spin-Off: It got two; Combat Sheep which was pretty much a one-off special about Commander Harris and Ripley & Scruff, a So Average It's Okay preschool show which happened to star some of the Rottentrolls who showed up in Season 4.
- Too Dumb to Live: Yockenthwaite. Hell, pretty much everyone in Troller's Ghyll qualifies, but he dials it Up to Eleven, so that even the other Rottentrolls think he's a berk.
- Totally Radical: The Nab Twins try to be this. The key word is "try".
- Riddle Me This: Spoofed when Roger answers The Great Magic Riddle Of The Rottentrolls:
Aysgarth: What has four legs, is covered in wool and goes "Baa"?
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