Children's classic brought to life

Lenny Henry is to narrate an animated version of children’s picture book Zog for BBC One this Christmas.

 Tracey Ullman, W1A’s Hugh Skinner and Game Of Thrones star Kit Harington are also lending their voices to the film.

Written in 2010 by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, creators of the modern classic The Gruffalo, Zog tells of a keen but accident-prone dragon who gets into mischief while learning how to fly,  breathe fire and fight knights in his first four years at Dragon School. Now in year five, he has to capture a princess

Ullman plays Madame Dragon, Skinner is  Zog, Jamestown’s Patsy Ferran is Princess Pearl and Harington is Sir Gadabout.

Sir Lenny said: ‘It’s wonderful to have voiced the narrator in Zog for this Christmas. The story has a lovely lyricism to it and it's been really good fun seeing the beautiful animation come together. There's a cast of brilliant actors and the story is silly, and outrageous, and surreal, and I like all of those things!’

Zog is the sixth Donaldson/Scheffler title that production company Magic Light Pictures gave animated.

Its co-founder Michael Rose said: ‘We love making films for the whole family to watch together at Christmas, and Zog is a treat - a wonderful, witty story with delightful characters at its heart.’

Published: 10 Oct 2018