Roger and The Rottentrolls - The Rottentrolls

The Rottentrolls

The Rottentrolls are a group of strange, knee-high creatures who have been waiting for the return of their king for centuries. They were originally brought by a snow cloud summond by Merlin, in an attempt to turn the valley into a ski resort for King Arthur, and crown young Roger as thir king. This is a typical act by the Rottentrolls who often get things wrong. The Rottentrolls are:

• Yockenthwaite - A lovable and daft Rottentroll who is always getting things wrong, often called a berk by others. His catchphrase is "Yo-o!". He is credited throughout the series as "the stupidest of the Rottentrolls". His favourite song, which he sang in the Rottentroll of the Year competition, is "Ten Thousand in the Bed". It is often Yockenthwaite who sets the plot of the episodes in motion through his blundering, yet, in some instances, he also manages to rectify the situation, either through chance or his above-average proficiency at map-reading (Commander Harris Loses It). Yockenthwaite is a slow reader and not very good with numbers but he is excellent at map reading.
• Aysgarth - The oldest and wisest of the Rottentrolls, he likes to think of himself as a leader. Following The Rottentroll Revolution, he becomes official leader in King Roger's absence. He is an accomplished artist, proficient at drawing landscapes and scenic portraits, but he doesn't approve of the more obscure forms of "modern" art. Despite his age and maturity, he has proved to be gullible (as when being hoodwinked by Blacksyke's story of "The Almighty Underwater Chicken") and also competitive (as when taking part in art competitions and roulette gambling).
• Penyghent - Penyghent is an artistic and creative female Rottentroll, with an impressive talent for football. Generally considered "the cleverest of the Rottentrolls". In the episode Rottentroll of the Year, Penyghent is the organizer of the titular competition and is crowned champion for her efforts.
• Kettlewell - A bad cook who often has a sudden desire to 'deck' people - hence "I'll deck yer!". She has muscles the size of potatoes, and her special dish is the garlic pasty, much to the chagrin of the other Rottentrolls.
• Askrigg - A completely sports-obsessed Rottentroll. He attempts every sport imaginable - without any team-mates. According to The Rottentroll Files, Askrigg is revealed to have "no brain", leaving him clueless on words such as "athletic" and "tomorrow".
• Blacksyke - The scariest and most mysterious Rottentroll, complete with her spiky umbrella and her cat. Her catchphrase is a pronounced "Cackle cackle cackle." Ironically, Blacksyke is a masterful practitioner of Jim-Jam-Ya-HA without knowing it; as she uttered the name of the practice in disgust, the bookshelf she was standing in front of collapsed on top of her. She is also responsible for instigating the Troller's Ghylle Crime Wave and for beginning the Movement of the Almighty Underwater Chicken.
• Trucklecrag - A failed wizard, prone to creating dustbins, toasters, and mackerel. On one occasion, during the Rottentroll of the Year competition, he tried a complex spell on Pennyghent that would lift her into the air, where, while floating on her back, she would gently spin anti-clockwise like a dervish. In practice, the spell simply turned her into a pizza. In spite of these failures and setbacks, he is sometimes the one approached for help.
• The Nab Twins - A pair of teenage rottentrolls who speak in slang terms which are now slightly dated, such as 'radical', 'spurious', and 'wicked'. They are also the members of a rock band called 'Cattlegrid'.
• Little Strid - Kettlewell's daughter, the youngest Rottentroll.
• Sigsworthy Crags - A failed inventor, who is completely mad. He often trails when speaking and starts making dog noises, the latter of which, he claims, helps to relieve stress. Used to be an estate agent prior to the death of his wife and loss of his children, the trauma of which sent him mad. Since then, his greatest ambition is to be the furthest-travelled of all Rottentrolls, to which end he attempted to build an airship and later a rocket. Four attempts were made to build a rocket; all but the third (upon which Sigsworthy forgot to embark) were met with failure. On the fourth attempt, he crashed underground and awoke to the sound of drumming on his rocket; looking for the source of the noise, he realized that he was reunited with his sons.
• Ripley and Scuff - A pair of young Rottentrolls, sons of Sigsworthy Crags. They appear in series 4, and in their own spin-off series, Ripley and Scuff. They seemed to have inherited their father's mental instability, or at least his tendency to make dog noises. They also communicate through making drumming noises.

Their names are all taken from places in Yorkshire. Tim Firth said about how he named the Rottentrolls: "I put a compass in the OS map of the area, centred on Troller's Ghyll and drew a circle of about 5 cm radius. I then harvested the strangest-sounding villages and geographical features. These then seemed to suggest, bizarrely, the colours of various mad characters. Yockenthwaite would clearly be an idiot because it had a 'k' in it. Sigsworthy Crags would clearly be off his trolley, but older. Penyghent would be female... and so on. I wish every assembly of characters was that easy."

The voices of the Rottentrolls were provided, in the first series, by John Thomson, Phil Cornwell and Rebecca Front. In later series Ronni Ancona replaced Rebecca Front.