BBC Announces New Borrowers Film

The BBC have announced they are making a new Borrowers film for TV, showing on BBC one this Christmas.

The cast includes Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Fry and Victoria Wood.

The 90-minute film is an adaptation of the classic children’s novels written by Mary Norton which tell the tale of a family of ‘little people’ who live under the floor boards of ‘human beans’.

Juliette Howell, of Working Title Television, the company that will be producing the drama, spoke of the collaboration with writer Ben Vanstone who has written for Merlin and EastEnders:

"I couldn't be more thrilled with Ben's take on this classic story. It feels fresh, original and above all funny. The perfect Christmas treat."

Christopher Eccleston will play Pod Clock, farther of the borrowers family, whilst Victoria Wood plays Grandma Driver, who knows the borrowers exist in her house and is determined to hunt them out of there.  Stephen Fry plays scientist Professor Mildeye who also knows of the ‘little people’s’ existence and will go to any length to capture them in order to resurrect his academic career.

Ben Stephenson, Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, said that this is a ‘contemporary’ version of the classic tale, whilst keeping its original ‘charm’.

Filming will begin this summer for five weeks, with Tom Harper (Misfits, This is England) as director.

What do you think of the variety of talent working on this Christmas special? Who remembers Ian Holm as Pod Clock in in 1992 BBC TV serial, or more recently Jim Broadbent in the 1997 movie?  How will this compare? 

This article can also be found at Step2inspireTV.