Brian (Ambroise in the French version) is a cheerful, bashful and intelligent snail. He is one of the main characters of The Magic Roundabout.
Personality[]
Brian is a very slow, but well-meaning snail, who is hyperactive and cheerful despite Dougal's usual insults. He is quite practical, sensible and intelligent where he would have a library in his own home and would spend his time collecting different things that interest him, i.e. gravel. Brian is also deeply in love with Ermintrude, though he is shy to confess his feelings for her. Oddly, this was only evident in the 2005 film, and left unexplored in both the original and revival series. Regardless of being at the mercy of ferocious skeleton guards in the temple, Brian is shown to be very brave in situations, one example will be defending Dylan from Zeebad who is demanding him to hand over the map by standing up to him.
Although Brian is mostly polite, he can sometimes be a little cheeky with Dougal if things don't go his way. Like Florence, Brian is also very helpful to sort things out in any situation. There are times that Brian would be upset, such as when Ermintrude accidentally wrecked the interior of his house with Mr. Grimsdale's bike, leaving him devastated until Florence kindly invites him to stay at her house.
Physical appearance[]
Brian is a peach skinned snail who wears yellow clothing with an orange scarf and a red shell. He has green eyes, faint rosy nose and cheeks and sandy blonde hair on top of his head that is covered by his beige straw hat with a brown band and a small green feather.
In the original series prior to his 2005 redesign, the irises in his eyes were originally black, the horns were originally red, the band of his hat had black spots and had a pin in his scarf to hold it in place. Also, Brian didn't have hair as he was bald, which was shown in Dougal's Experiment.
Relationships[]
Dougal[]
Brian and Dougal have an on-and-off vitriolic relationship, due to Dougal's constant insults, but they often hang out together. Despite his insults, Dougal also genuinely considers the snail his best friend. Additionally, Brian has outwitted Dougal on certain occasions.
Florence[]
Brian is good friends with Florence as the young girl was more pleasant and polite than Dougal, and has assisted her on several occasions, such as bringing some spare strings for the tent which Dylan had unintentionally collapsed because he was taking some string for his guitar.
Train[]
He also likes to occasionally race with the Train.
Ermintrude[]
In the 2005 film, he has a huge crush on Ermintrude and shown to be jealous when Dylan dances with Ermintrude during the song "You Really Got Me". In the original series, he and Ermintrude are featured together more often in series 3. (In the French version, Brian doesn't seem to mind when the cow often mis-pronounces his name, although he only got annoyed by it and corrected her in "Can You Play Cup and Ball?")
Dylan[]
Brian also finds Dylan's music interestingly modern, and at least on one occasion ("The Moody Concerto"), the two played together to interpret a rather confusing piece of music. The two also have a fair amount of screen-time together in Dougal and the Blue Cat, often commenting on the action (particularly Dougal's warning speech and Buxton's crocodile tears). In one scene said film, it's shown that Dylan is also small enough to ride on Brian.
Hobbies and interests[]
- Reading: Brian does a lot of reading in his spare time where he has books and magazines that relate to his interest of gravels and paper clips.
- Collecting: He also spends his spare time collecting unusual items that are mostly different pieces of gravel, various timetables and paperclips.
- Bird watching: It was shown in "Snail Hawk" that Brian also does some Bird watching where he uses his well-crafted hide in a shape of a rock to camouflage himself in the forest.
Abilities and talents[]
- Math: Brian is very clever at mathematics where at one point recites his times tables in a Maths lesson that Florence was teaching.
- Problem Solving: He would come in handy when to solve problems. This was shown in "Paperchase Mystery" after Ermintrude has torn down the papers (until she realises her mistake later on) that Basil and Coral put up on trees as a game to show Dougal and Florence the way to them where they'll have their picnic, Brian suggests on matching the exact small pieces with the papers that will lead them to Basil and Coral.
Appearances (original series)[]
Series 1[]
TBA
Series 2[]
Part 1[]
- Ermintrude's Dance
- Flamenco
- Black Flower
- Dougal’s Experiment
- Brian's Voice
- The Oyster
- Land of Precious Stones
- Dylan, Hairdresser
- Chocolate Soldiers
- Alarm Clock
- Glow Worms
- Glasses, Part 2 - cameo
- La maison du père Pivoine (all three parts)
- Road Signs
- Brian and the Train Race
- Chimney Sweeping
- Captured Storm
- Penelope is Lazy
- Hide and Seek
- Television Announcer
- Dylan Theatre
- Lost Boing
- Jumping Competition
- Florence's Party
- Dougal's Jam
- Dylan's Dream
Part 2[]
The * sign donates to having been made after Dougal and the Blue Cat
- Dylan the Sleepwalker (season 1 holdover in color)
- Spaghetti Party
- Watch the Birdie
- Baking a Pie
- Let's Play at Cats
- Piano Moving
- Once Upon a Time
- Ermintrude's Vocation - cameo
- Oil Wells
- Dylan, Sculptor - minor appearance
- Special Convoy - silent cameo
- Tombola
- Flying Saucer
- Relay Race
- Ermintrude’s Hat, Part 1
- Business Trip / Holidays
- Pancakes
- Happy Birthday, Dylan
- Ermintrude's Toothache
- Picnic
- Brian’s Twilight
- At the Door Department - cameo
- The Exhibition
- The Mysterious Beast
- Stiff-Necked Heliotropes
- Golf and Omelette - Blue Cat model introduced
- The Moody Concerto
- Can You Play Cup and Ball?*
- Letter to the Queen*
- Snowman's Scarf*
- Toffee River*
- The Rain* - cameo at the end
- The Orchestra*
- Wine Making*
Series 3[]
Pretty much every episode except for these:
- Sugar Covered Walking Sticks
- Spare Part
- Letter to Father Christmas
Trivia[]
- In the original series, Brian is a vegetable lover, especially for lettuce and cabbages.
- In the French version of the original series:
- He almost always refers to everyone else with the "monsieur" (Mr.) or "madame" (Miss) prefix. This also applies to the Pinwheel dub.
- The snail's catchphrase is "Ah ben, ça alors!" (translating to "Ah well, gosh!") which is used to express surprise or shock.
- The 2007 revival series turns the snail into somewhat of a brainiac with hobbies such as collecting gravel and bird watching.