La Roger’s family

At the end of the 90s, Fox Networks Group and Saban Entertainment joined forces to create Fox Kids France. In the summer of 97, Fox asked me to write and develop a short programme aimed at children. The production budget was small, and all we had was a puppet handler with two latex gloves, a voice-over, 2 cameramen – one of whom acted as cinematographer, a set designer, a director, 2 assistants and me for the writing.

I suggested that they develop a series of characters with a main character ‘Roger’ who would have adventures, surrounded by children his own age. On 15 November 1997, Fox Kids was launched for the first time on Canal Satellite. The channel was inspired by the world of video games. As expected, the series were presented by the mascots, Roger & his friends. The multicoloured latex gloves quickly became a big hit with children, and merchandising developed around the project, with songs, caps and more. The programme was sold in ten countries around the world. In Germany, Nina Hagen, the punk singer and star of the 70s and 80s, asked to do the programme’s voice-overs, along with her mother, the actress Eva-Maria Hagen, and her daughter Shiva, because her son was crazy about it. Over the next 4 years, I wrote around forty sketches a month, around 500 a year, more than 2,000 in all.