Everything about Roly totally explained
Roly was a
fictional dog in the
BBC soap opera EastEnders. Roly was an
apricot coloured
Standard Poodle, who appeared in the first episode of the programme and remained in the show until 1993.
Casting
Roly was cast less than a week before the filming of
EastEnders began. From the beginning it was decided that the occupants of
The Queen Victoria pub,
Den,
Angie and
Sharon Watts, were to have an
Alsatian named Prince. However, finding an Alsatian that was light enough in colour not to merge into the background of the set proved to be difficult. Eventually, the co-creator/producer of the show,
Julia Smith, was contacted by a company named Janimals, who specialised in providing and training animals for television and films. They had found a seven month-old Poodle, called Roly, who might still be young enough to be trained. Training was said to take three weeks, and as the Poodle was a similar size to an Alsatian, Roly got the part. Roly was made the property of the BBC, given an ID card, and taken to live with Julia Smith at her home in London. Roly and
Willy the
pug shared a dressing room at Elstree studios.
Storylines
Roly was given to Sharon Watts by her father, Den. Sharon's mother, Angie, didn't like the dog much and once even accused him of deliberately causing her to trip and fall on the stairs. However, during Den and Angie's divorce in 1987, Angie was horrified to hear that Den was considering selling Roly. She stormed round to the Vic and demanded that Den give Roly to her.
Roly was involved in many storylines during his time in the show. He was often used by his owners as a silent sounding board, and was made privvy to all their secrets and woes. It was Roly who first alerted viewers to the fact that his owner, Den, had got the 16 year old schoolgirl,
Michelle Fowler, pregnant in October 1985; one of the soaps most renowned '
whodunit' plots. After months of speculation, Michelle went to meet the father at a nearby canal, and Roly bounded out of the mystery man's car, showing the identity of the man, Den.
Roly was a bit of a rogue from time to time. He trampled over
Tom Clements' prize
leeks, which led to Tom stealing
Arthur Fowler's leeks and winning first prize in the London in Bloom competition. He also bit
Alan McIntyre on the bottom after he tried to evict
Ali and
Sue Osman.
Off-screen, the real Roly was getting too old to appear regularly on television so it was decided that he should retire to live with his owner, Julia Smith. On
2 August 1995, Roly died following an operation for breathing problems aggravated by the 1995 heatwave.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Roly'.
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