The Roly Mo Show is a British children's television series featuring a cast of puppets; it is a spin-off from the Fimbles show and was created by Novel Entertainment. The series consists of 100 episodes, each of 15 minutes in length. It was broadcast on CBeebies. In addition, there are 20 storytimes and 10 Christmas storytimes. The series was broadcast between 13 June 2004 and 8 April 2005. Roly Mo was a regular storyteller character in the better known Fimbles show, and The Roly Mo Show draws heavily on this. The show is noted for its particularly gentle and pleasant characters and plots. A show called Christmas Storytime aired on the CBeebies channel in 2007. In the Irish republic, The Roly Mo Show was broadcast on Network 2 as part of a lineup of programmes for younger children called The Den and started airing on 20 January 2003.
Format
Each episode follows a general format.
It starts with Little Bo, Roly's niece, visiting Roly Mo after school. She hangs up her rucksack and hat and goes down the slide into the main part of Roly's house.
One of the characters has a problem; this is the main plot element throughout the episode.
Someone reads a story from Roly Mo's library, preceded by the "When You Take a Look Inside a Book" song. Most of the time this is Roly, although sometimes this is Little Bo, Rockit, Yugo and Migo or a combination. The story is related to the problem and often gives an idea for its solution.
Little Bo looks in her 'Busy Book', starting the segment of an animated Fimble solving an educational puzzle.
The problem is solved, often with a song.
The show closes with voice-overs during the credits, which is often humorous or providing further closure.
Characters
Roly Mo - The main character of the show who loves reading. He is a mole with purple and green stripes. He is voiced by Wayne Forester
Little Bo - A younger and highly intelligent mole. Little Bo has pink and purple stripes, and is Roly's niece. Little Bo is voiced by Tamsin Heatley.
Yugo and Migo - Yugo and Migo are Snoots, who are orange and yellow fox-like animals. Yugo is striped and Migo is spotted. They are very dim and manic, and probably created for the amusement of younger viewers. Yugo is voiced by Philip Pope and Migo is voiced by Duncan Wisbey.
Rockit the Frog- An inquisitive and energetic blue tree frog. Rockit is voiced and puppeteered by Wayne Forrester.
Catchphrases
"I'll be back in a Roly Mo!"
"It's been a Roly Moly day!"
"Lets roll like Roly Mo!"
"Story-time with Roly Mo! Our favourite time of day!"
"Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin."
Transmissions
Other media
Roly Mo has been referred to many times in the TV series Horrid Henry, with both shows being created by Novel Entertainment. On 28 December 2007, Roly Mo appeared in a special puppet edition of The Weakest Link. The show, which was presented by Anne Robinson, was aired at 6pm on BBC One. Prior to the fourth round, at Anne's and the audience's request, he led the other puppets in a rendition of his "When You Take a Look Inside a Book" song.
International airings
In Australia from 3 February 2003 to 30 September 2008, The Roly Mo Show was broadcast on ABC and its third digital channel ABC2. As of 1 June 2007The Roly Mo Show is being broadcast in China on Shanghai Media Group's children's network HAHA TV. All 200 episodes are being shown sequentially and dubbed in Mandarin Chinese. As the show in its original format is only 19 minutes long, the show has been lengthened by 5 minutes for the Chinese market. In Vietnam, since 2008, The Roly Mo Show is a part of the show 5 Minutes to Learn English Everyday, which is produced by HTV4 together with many famous English centers and international schools. However, in VBC, it is a separate show named Những chú heo con Fimbles. From June 2008, the show has also been broadcast by Tata SkyDTH in India under partnership from the BBC on the country's variant of the CBeebies channel. In Colombia from 2004 and 2007, it was broadcast by Señal Colombia. In New Zealand, the show was played on TV2. In South Africa, The Roly Mo Show began airing on SABC 1. In Singapore, it was broadcast by Central and played it on their children's block Kids Central. The series aired in Singapore from 2003 to 2006 and then on Okto from 2011. In Hong Kong, the series was screened on TVB Pearl. In Malta, The Roly Mo Show was aired on TVM. In Thailand, the English version of the series was broadcast on Thai cable television TrueVisions on their children's network UBC Spark. In United States, The Roly Mo Show is aired on PBS.
