Gerard was hired to get children involved with the show. He would interact with kids on location, and create a link with the show by playing a role in the street stories. Previous attempts of child interaction (with the actors Annet van Heusden, Joyce Clements and Rudy Kühn) had failed: this concept proved to be successful, and other actors like Frank Groothof, Lot Lohr and Hakim Traïda still visit kids on location in recent seasons. The low-budget location scenes with Gerard were shown the most between 1982 and 1984; Gerard was featured on the show until 1987.