You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Cumberbatch and Andoh voice 'Mog's Christmas'
Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy and Zawe Ashton will voice an upcoming Channel 4 adaptation of Mog’s Christmas (HarperCollins Children’s Books) with Adjoa Andoh lending her voice as narrator.
Miriam Margolyes and Charlie Higson will also star in the project scheduled for Christmas 2023, in the 100th anniversary year of author Judith Kerr’s birth.
The project was commissioned by Gwawr Lloyd, drama commissioning editor, and Caroline Hollick, head of drama at Channel 4 in association with Universal Pictures Content Group and produced by Lupus Films founders Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding together with executive producers Juliet Matthews at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and Kerr’s children, Tacy, Matthew Kneale and Ann-Janine Murtagh. It is directed by Robin Shaw and written by Joanna Harrison. The team last worked together on Channel 4’s Emmy award-winning adaptation of Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea (HarperCollins).
As well as featuring the voices of Andoh, Cumberbatch, Foy, Ashton, Margolyes and Higson, Mog’s purrs and miaows will be provided by Tacy Kneale, Kerr’s daughter. She said: “Our own Mog was a huge part of my childhood. I hope I’ve done her justice.”
Based on Kerr’s first family cat, the Mog series of books started with Mog the Forgetful Cat, which was first published in 1970 by HarperCollins Children’s Books and has never been out of print.
In Mog’s Christmas Mr and Mrs Thomas and their children Debbie and Nicky are busy making preparations for Christmas. With two aunts and an uncle also staying in the house, Mog, the beloved family cat, is feeling ignored and then ends up fleeing on to the roof after being scared by the Christmas tree, leading to family attempts at rescue.
Juliet Matthews, colour publisher for HarperCollins Children’s Books, said: “HarperCollins Children’s Books is proud to be the home of all of Judith Kerr’s books. We are thrilled that the beloved Mog will now be introduced to a whole new generation of children through this delightful animation.”
