The British actor will voice the character of Sir Gadabout in the one-off animated special, which will air on BBC One at Christmas. He is joined by Sir Lenny Henry, who narrates, Tracey Ullman, who voices Madame Dragon, W1A’s Hugh Skinner as Zog and Jamestown’s Patsy Ferran as Princess Pearl.

The special is based on the character written by The Gruffalo creators Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler and will be produced by Magic Light Pictures, which adapted that into a BBC hit.

Zog is a keen but accident-prone dragon who gets himself into mischief whilst learning how to fly, roar, breathe fire and fight knights in his first four years at dragon school. Each year he meets a kindly young girl who patches up his bumps and bruises, but can his latest friend help with his trickiest challenge yet: to capture a princess.

The special is directed by Max Lan, the Oscar-nominated director of Room on a Broom, and Stick Man co-director Daniel Snaddon. It is produced by Michael Rose and Martin Pope of Magic Light Pictures and the composer is Rene Aubry. Animation services have been provided by Triggerfish Animation in Cape Town.

It has been picked up for BBC One by Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content, and Elizabeth Kilgarriff, Senior Commissioning Editor, BBC Drama.

Kilgarriff said, “Magic Light Pictures are yet again promising the BBC audience a Christmas treat with Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s brilliant story of a dragon and princess who both dare to be different. To have such recognisable and wonderful voices bringing the characters to life is very exciting indeed.”

Michael Rose, co-founder Magic Light Pictures, added, “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.” [Source]