Alongside Meera Syal and Rob Brydon

Bill Bailey, Meera Syal and Rob Brydon have joined the cast of the  BBC film adaptation of the kids’ story The Smeds And The Smoos.

To air this Christmas, this is the tenth children’s book from Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler, creators of The Gruffalo, to be picked up by the BBC.

Brydon, who has lent his voice to all of them will play Uncle Smoo; Bailey is Grandfather Smed and Syal is Aunt Smed.

The cast will be headed by double Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins, from The Shape Of Water, as the narrator, with Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh as Grandmother Smoo.

Set on a far-off planet, the story revolves around red Smed family who never mix with the Smoos, who are blue. So when a chance encounter allows young Smed Janet (Ashna Rabberu)  to become friends with Bill, a young Smoo (played by Daniel Ezra), their families immediately try to stop it.

The Smeds And The Smoos follows last year’s Superworm, which aired on BBC One on Christmas Day and starred Olivia Colman and Matt Smith, was the third most watched programme with 8 million viewers in its first month,

It is being directed by Daniel Snaddon and Samantha Cutler, from a script by Julia Smuts Louw.

Published: 16 May 2022