Magic Light Pictures has released a first look at its new animated adaptation of children’s story The Smeds And The Smoos, which is due to hit screens this Christmas.
The new trailer shows the two young protagonists Janet and Bill, playing together in the Wurpular Wood, much to the annoyance of their families.
The Smeds and the Smoos tells the story of the pair who fall in love and run away together, forcing their red and blue families to put aside their differences to search for them.
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s story of a love which overcomes divisions will air on BBC One and iPlayer in December 2022.
The all-star cast includes double Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins as the narrator, Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh as Grandmother Smoo and comedian Bill Bailey as Grandfather Smed.
Meera Syal will play Aunt Smed and Rob Brydon will be returning for his tenth Magic Light film as Uncle Smoo.
Ashna Rabheru and Daniel Ezra will play the young couple, Janet and Bill, respectively.
The Smeds and the Smoos was directed by Samantha Cutler and Daniel Snaddon.
Donaldson was the 2011–2013 Children’s Laureate and is best known for her popular rhyming stories for children, especially those illustrated by Scheffler, which include The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Stick Man.
Speaking about the partnership, Andoh said: “What Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have completely nailed with this story is its intergenerational appeal.
“We can sit together as a family to watch and get the same things from the story but also richly different things as well depending on our ages and stages.
“And there is of course the timeless message around the sort of ignorant prejudice that we may harbour about one another until we really get to know each other.
“And once we do, the love and kinship we find are what help us to survive and thrive,they are the ties that bind us all together.”
Bailey added: “I think that the collaboration between Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is one of the great partnerships of children’s literature, or any literature for that matter.
“The combination of her stories and his animation is magical for kids and parents alike.
“I know from my own experience as I used to read her books to my son when he was little.”