Revolting Rhymes Heads To BBC One

Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes are to air on BBC One this Christmas, it has been announced.

The six rhymes were written by the author in 1982 and illustrated by Quentin Blake, and are well-known for their twists and often surprising endings.

This Christmas, an all-star voice cast will deliver the works, including Dominic West, David Walliams, Rob Brydon and Tamsin Greig. A number of the cast will play multiple roles. For example, David Walliams and Rob Brydon will voice the Ugly Sisters as well as Jack's Mother and the King respectively, while Tamsin Greig will play the Babysitter and Micc Maclahose. Other stars lending their talents to the animation will be Bel Powley, Bertie Carvel, Gemma Chan, Isaac Hempstead Wright, and Rose Leslie.

Revolting Rhymes will air as two half-hour films which interweave five of Roald Dahl's rhymes. The Narrator Wolf tells the stories of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk and Cinderella. Directed by Oscar nominees, Jan Lachauer and Jakob Schuh, Quentin Blake's illustrations has been brought to life in the films by Magic Light Pictures.

Dominic West said: "Voicing the Wolf in these wonderful films was a huge amount of fun. The incredible poems written by Roald Dahl have been beautifully brought to life by the production team and I was delighted to take part in the project. I look forward to enjoying them with the family this Christmas."

David Walliams added: "I absolutely loved working on these films. I'm a massive fan of Dahl's work and to be able to voice his characters was a real treat."

Martin Pope, Co-founder, Magic Light Pictures commented: "It's been an amazing honour to bring these wonderful rhymes to life. Working with the inspiration of Roald Dahl's words and Quentin Blake's drawings has been fantastic. These twisted yet classic fairy tales have enabled our gifted directors Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer to create something magical and refreshing."

Elizabeth Kilgarriff, BBC Executive Producer, said: "Martin Pope and Michael Rose have once again worked their magic to bring us an animation to delight our BBC1 audience this Christmas. Beautiful visuals combined with an extraordinary cast bring Roald Dahl's wonderful rhymes to life in what promises to be a huge Christmas treat."

Luke Kelly, Managing Director of The Roald Dahl Literary Estate and Roald Dahl's grandson, said: "2016 has been an extraordinary year for Roald Dahl as we've seen his centenary marked worldwide in delightfully creative ways. Magic Light's wonderful adaptation of Revolting Rhymes ensures that we finish this momentous year on a real high point."

Revolting Rhymes is a Magic Light Pictures production commissioned for BBC One by Charlotte Moore. It is directed by Jan Lachauer and Jakob Schuh, co-directed by Bin Han To and produced by Martin Pope and Michael Rose. The animation has been created at Magic Light's Berlin studio and at Triggerfish Animation in Cape Town. The Executive Producer for the BBC is Elizabeth Kilgarriff.

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre

(JP)