| Genre: | Comedy Live-action Animation Sitcom Mockumentary |
| Voices: | Scott Graham (Series 1–2) Robert Donnely (Series 3–4) Richard Albrecht |
| Starring: | Sean Harris Ariana Martha Byrne Mark Lambert |
| Composer: | Darren Hendley |
| Country: | Ireland |
| Language: | English |
| Location: | Ballyfermot, County Dublin (Series 1-2) Sandyford, County Dublin (Series 3-4) |
| Runtime: | 22 minutes |
| Company: | JAM Media |
| Network: | TRTÉ (Ireland) CBBC (United Kingdom) ABC3 (Australia) |
| Num Seasons: | 4 |
| Num Episodes: | 52 |
Roy is an Irish animated children's television series which was broadcast by TRTÉ in Ireland, CBBC in the United Kingdom and ABC3 in Australia. It aired from 1 July 2009 to 1 April 2015.[1]
The show centres on the titular character Roy O'Brien. He is portrayed as the 11-year-old animated son of a live-action family. Episodes mostly revolve around the adventures and challenges he faces as he settles into his new school in a suburb of Dublin.
The series is filmed as a mockumentary and based on the short film Badly Drawn Roy, which was commissioned by the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and the Arts Council of Ireland through their frameworks scheme for new animation.
The series was commissioned by CBBC and produced with funding from RTÉ and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Both the series and the short film were produced by JAM Media. Roy's character animation is hand drawn in Flash with the compositing and effects produced in Adobe's After Effects.
A second season was broadcast in early 2012.[2] In November 2012, the second season of Roy won the 2012 Children's BAFTA Drama Award.[3]
Filming began on a third and fourth season in January 2013. The third season began airing on 23 January 2014, and the fourth began airing 20 January 2015.[4]
| Series | Actor | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series 1-4 | Narrator | |||
| Series 1-2 | Scott Graham | Roy O'Brien | Lead role | |
| Series 3-4 | Robert Donnely | Roy O'Brien | Lead role | |
| Series 1-4 | Bill O'Brien | Main role, Roy's biological Dad | ||
| Series 1-4 | Maura O'Brien | Main role, Roy's biological Mum | ||
| Series 1-4 | Martha Byrne | Becky O'Brien | Main role, Roy's biological Sister | |
| Series 1-4 | Mr Derek Hammond | Headteacher (Series 1 - 2), Vice Principal (Series 3 - 4) | ||
| Series 1-4 | Paul Tylak | Dr Rashid | Doctor | |
| Series 1-2 | David Green | Tommy Byrne | Nerd and Roy’s Mate | |
| Series 1-2 | Jack Koprowski | Cool Dude and Roy’s Mate | ||
| Series 1-2 | Rebecca Barry | Sinéad | Roy's Crush | |
| Series 1-2 | Chloe McCormack | Kathy Cunningham | Main Bully | |
| Series 1 | Lewis Harris | Connor | Cool Dude | |
| Series 1 | Charlene Gleeson | Tara Loveworth | ||
| Series 1 | Patrick Murray | Jacks Dad | ||
| Series 1 | Holly Walsh | Karisma | ||
| Series 1 | Nigel Davey | Sound Man | ||
| Series 1-2 | Ronan Leahy | Mr Hogan | P.E. Teacher | |
| Series 1-2 | Pat McGrath | Dennis Gwint | Site Manager | |
| Series 1-2 | Maud Fahy | Miss Dymphna Sherringham | Teacher | |
| Series 2 | Panashe McGuckin | Alex O'Shea | Cool Dude | |
| Series 2 | Norma Sheahan | Miss Hegarty | ||
| Series 3-4 | Cameron Hogan | Niall | Cool Dude | |
| Series 3-4 | Lauren Kinsella | Tara Keating | Roy's Crush | |
| Series 3-4 | Romey Farrelly | Abby | Cool Girl and Roy’s Mate | |
| Series 3-4 | Jowon Olatunji | Sean | Cool Dude | |
| Series 3-4 | Kian Murphy | Declan | Main Bully | |
| Series 3-4 | Brandon Maher | Hendley | Bully's mate | |
| Series 3-4 | Harry Behan | Fagan | Bully's mate | |
| Series 3-4 | Miss Jane Jervis | Headteacher | ||
| Series 3-4 | Sam O’Mahony | Mr Lucey | Science Teacher | |
| Series 3 | Hiro Ino | Mr Tanaka |
| Series | Episodes | Start date | End date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | 5 August 2009 | 28 October 2009 | |
| 2 | 13 | 9 January 2012 | 27 March 2012 | |
| 3 | 13 | 23 January 2014 | 17 April 2014 | |
| 4 | 13 | 20 January 2015 | 7 April 2015 |
| Overall | In series | Title | Original airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | New Boy | 5 August 2009 | |
| 2 | 2 | Growing Pains | 12 August 2009 | |
| 3 | 3 | Sick | 19 August 2009 | |
| 4 | 4 | Charity Case | 26 August 2009 | |
| 5 | 5 | A Matter of Principal | 2 September 2009 | |
| 6 | 6 | Roy Band | 9 September 2009 | |
| 7 | 7 | On the Run | 16 September 2009 | |
| 8 | 8 | Roy and Me | 23 September 2009 | |
| 9 | 9 | Roy Goes to the Movies | 30 September 2009 | |
| 10 | 10 | Roy Pulls a Face | 7 October 2009 | |
| 11 | 11 | Testing, Testing | 14 October 2009 | |
| 12 | 12 | Halo Goodbye | 21 October 2009 | |
| 13 | 13 | School Inspection | 28 October 2009 |
| Overall | In series | Title | Original airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | Foot Fat Fit | 9 January 2012 | |
| 15 | 2 | Roy the Rover | 16 January 2012 | |
| 16 | 3 | Big Head | 23 January 2012 | |
| 17 | 4 | Spot On | 30 January 2012 | |
| 18 | 5 | Death in the Family | 6 February 2012 | |
| 19 | 6 | Pint-Sized Roy | 13 February 2012 | |
| 20 | 7 | A Crushing Blow | 20 February 2012 | |
| 21 | 8 | Magical Roy | 27 February 2012 | |
| 22 | 9 | Invisible Roy | 5 March 2012 | |
| 23 | 10 | DIY Roy | 12 March 2012 | |
| 24 | 11 | The Good, the Bad and the Roy | 19 March 2012 | |
| 25 | 12 | Uncle Troy | 26 March 2012 | |
| 26 | 13 | Roy's Review | 27 March 2012 |
| Overall | In series | Title | Original airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 1 | Roy On Film | 23 January 2014 | |
| 28 | 2 | Attack of the 50 ft Roy | 30 January 2014 | |
| 29 | 3 | Roy's Bad Hair Day | 6 February 2014 | |
| 30 | 4 | Roy's Quest | 13 February 2014 | |
| 31 | 5 | Snookered | 20 February 2014 | |
| 32 | 6 | Supersize Roy | 27 February 2014 | |
| 33 | 7 | The Roy Trap | 6 March 2014 | |
| 34 | 8 | Mocking is Catching | 13 March 2014 | |
| 35 | 9 | Be Careful What You Wish For | 20 March 2014 | |
| 36 | 10 | Konnichi Roy | 27 March 2014 | |
| 37 | 11 | I'm a Big Roy Now | 3 April 2014 | |
| 38 | 12 | Roy's First Kiss | 10 April 2014 | |
| 39 | 13 | Freaky Froyday | 17 April 2014 |
| Overall | In series | Title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 1 | Roy 2.0 | 20 January 2015 |
| 41 | 2 | Bubble Trouble | 27 January 2015 |
| 42 | 3 | Stupid Cupid | 3 February 2015 |
| 43 | 4 | Roy's Terrible Twos | 10 February 2015 |
| 44 | 5 | Too Cool For School | 17 February 2015 |
| 45 | 6 | Karma Chameleon | 24 February 2015 |
| 46 | 7 | Going Ape | 3 March 2015 |
| 47 | 8 | Blush Hour | 10 March 2015 |
| 48 | 9 | And the Winner Is... | 17 March 2015 |
| 49 | 10 | Fright of a Lifetime | 24 March 2015 |
| 50 | 11 | Roy Junior | 31 March 2015 |
| 51 | 12 | Buddy | 7 April 2015 |
| 52 | 13 | Roy, Roy, CGI Boy |
Two spin-off series of Roy were announced and commissioned by BBC, forming the Roy franchise. Little Roy is about an animated five year old boy on a journey of self-discovery through imaginative play. It aired from 2016 to 2017 on both CBBC and CBeebies.[5]
The Roy Files is a spin-off that focuses on the life of Roy O’Brien, Ireland's only cartoon boy living in the real world. Roy turns his history homework into a scrapbook about himself that highlights all four seasons of Roy.[5]