Puppeteer from Newmarket overwhelmed by response after TV pilot Rogue Element debuts at London cinema

A 23-year-old puppeteer from Suffolk has been ‘absolutely blown away’ by the response to his debut TV pilot.

Joshua Macrow, from Newmarket, is the company manager at JJ Puppets and feels over the moon that his brand new sci-fi show has been well received after it premiered at The Lexi Cinema in London.

The show, Rogue Element, has also already picked up more than 500 views on YouTube after it was released on Saturday, February 4.

Mr Macrow said: “It’s only been a few days since its release and I've been absolutely blown away. It’s exceeded my expectations and has just been an amazing feeling.

“I'm still getting to grips with the fact it's now out there but it’s really exciting and I think it’s going to sink in soon.

“At the moment though, it's all very surreal but I am thrilled with how it all looks and all the show's teams from sound to lighting have all been incredible along the way too."

Rogue Element centres around the main character Jaggofass who crash lands on Earth trying to escape from his corrupt society which has sent its forces to pursue and destroy him.

The show was meant to be Mr Macrow’s final university project in 2020 while he attended the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, but the pandemic changed his plans allowing him to spend more time preparing.

It means years after working on Rogue Element, he is thrilled that people are finally getting the chance to see it.

He said: “Everyone has been saying that they like the charm of it and they are shocked by how real it looks, especially with all the sound and music.

“There’s been a few people who have watched it a couple of times and been surprised by how much detail there is and things you don’t pick up the first time you watch it. It’s been an amazing feeling really.

“People are also treating it like a real TV show which is nice. Normally, when you create things like at university, everyone is quite critical but instead this time having a general audience means people are saying, ‘that was really cool man, I enjoyed that,' which is what actually happens with films and TV.

"This looks like a real thing so people treat it like a real thing.”

Formerly a student at County Upper School in Bury St Edmunds, Mr Macrow was 12 years old when he fell in love with puppeteering after his mum, Faith, dragged him along to a puppet workshop despite him wanting to stay at home in bed playing computer games.

However, his love for the hobby spiralled from there, including a performance at Bury’s Got Talent in 2015, and it eventually led to him launching his own company JJ Puppets in 2017.

Now living in Guildford, Surrey, Mr Macrow works as a freelance puppeteer and puppet builder for other companies as well as doing events and projects with JJ Puppets. With the premiere of Rogue Element at The Lexi Cinema in London, he now feels as if he’s reached a big milestone in his career.

He said: “I had a great time watching it in the cinema. It was really surreal actually and it had a really good turnout.

“It was very strange for me because I've been sitting with this footage for so long, it almost felt like an out of body experience.

“As I’ve watched all the scenes a lot, it was interesting to hear people's reactions, like when they were laughing but also at points where it's meant to be really quiet. It was nice because I’d never had that sort of experience before.”

Mr Macrow’s love for retro sci-fi with classics such as Doctor Who and Star Wars, combined with puppetry ideas he has always wanted to try, helped form his plans for Rogue Element.

He also wanted to explore content that is more grounded as a lot of the entertainment relating to puppets you see on screen is inspired by The Muppets which is more fun, goofy and silly. Mr Macrow wanted to take it in a slightly different direction as he believes puppetry has a wider potential, particularly in the TV market.

With his new show, the puppets were made out of a special foam and took about a month to make each puppet, with each one possessing the ability to blink which he described as quite ‘intricate’.

Moving forwards, Mr Macrow’s aim is to get more people to watch the show, get in contact with TV producers and look at getting into the film festival scene.

“My next steps are basically getting Rogue Element out there and find out if its something people want to see more of and if they do, there will be more.

“I know Rogue Element is going to do something good and it kind of already has, as it's put me on people’s radar and this is the real test now to see how it does in front of TV executives. I can’t say who, but we've had some big studios at least interested in it which is fabulous.

“Being freelance, there’s always a bit of fear of what’s coming next. My goal was always to do puppetry for a living. My TV and film work is where I thrive best so I really want to head in that direction.”