Comedy drama series Roger Roger followed Sam, owner of Cresta Cabs, as he tried to keep his ailing company afloat despite the antics of his dodgy drivers.
The team from Cresta Cabs, a bona fide and safely insured outfit, is led by Sam (Robert Daws), the anxiety-ridden owner who relies on Reen’s (Pippa Guard) cool organisational abilities to ensure that ‘punters’ are picked up and delivered to their destinations as quickly and efficiently as possible. Well, most of the time anyway.
The drivers are a colourful mixture of characters including Phil, nicknamed “Bonio”, a wannabe rock star whose wife Chrissie (Lesley Vickerage) continually points out that playing pathetic gigs in dirty pubs does not feed the children, but driving a mini-cab will; Baz (David Ross), who is also a postman, takes care of his intellectually- challenged stepson Marlon (Ricci Harnett), while desperately trying dating agencies and answering adverts in a fruitless search for true love – or at least a girlfriend.
Barry (John Thomson) a man who breathes contempt in the direction of any woman, but is secretly terrified of them; Henry, (Jude Akuwudike) a cheerful and popular newly-arrived Nigerian immigrant whose sense of direction is perhaps a little off-course; Cambridge (Chris Larkin) an ex-university student and so called because of his astute powers of intellect; Rajiv (Paul Sharma ) a very ambitious young Asian, always impeccably presented and finally Andre (Terence Maynard) a laid-back West Indian.
After a gap of four years the series returned for three more episodes.
In the pilot there were a few cast difference. Much of the emphasis was on Phil (played by Neil Morrissey) and his wife Chrissie (played by Lesley Vickerage).
production details
UK | 60 minutes | Broadcast 26 August 1996 (pilot), 8 January 1998 – 10 August 2003
Writer: John Sullivan
Producer: Gareth Gwenlan
cast
Robert Daws as Sam
Pippa Guard as Reen
Philip Glenister as Phil
Barbara Durkin as Tina
John Thomson as Barry (Season 1)
Jonathan Moore as Barry (from season 2)
David Ross as Basil
Helen Grace as Chrissie
Chris Larkin as Cambridge
Steven Meo
Edna Doré
Terence Maynard
Phaldut Sharma as Rajiv
Ricci Harnett as Marlon
