The beloved children’s author had to remove a scene from her book to get approval for the festive special airing Christmas Day
Author Julia Donaldson has revealed how she was forced to rework one of her bestselling tales to secure approval for its transformation into a BBC Christmas Day animation.
This year, millions will tune in to watch The Scarecrows’ Wedding, the newest adaptation from Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler’s collection of stories that have become a festive tradition. The 30-minute animated programme boasts a stellar voice cast, featuring Gavin and Stacey’s Rob Brydon as Reginald Rake, Hamnet’s Jessie Buckley voicing Betty O’Barley, and The Paper’s Domhnall Gleeson bringing Harry O’Hay to life.
The tale follows two devoted scarecrows, Betty and Harry, as they plan their dream wedding, with Slow Horses’ Sophie Okonedo providing the narration. However, Julia has disclosed that for the first time across 13 adaptations, she was required to make substantial alterations to the plot because the original version depicted villainous scarecrow Reginald Rake puffing on a cigar and inadvertently igniting a blaze in the field, reports the Mirror.
Julia explained: “There had to be a fire in the story and the water was going to put out the fire, so I had to think of reasons for the fire. In the book, the fire is started by Reginald Rake through smoking. I thought that was really good because it shows him in a really bad light.
“He is a baddie and he is smoking and in the original book Betty says ‘smoking is bad for you’ and he gets a terrible cough and starts a fire so it shows how bad smoking is. But apparently in the world of children’s films you are not allowed to show anyone smoking.
“I personally think it would be better for children to come across smoking in a film or a book and then their parents can talk about it and say it is not a great thing, rather than see someone in a doorway.”
Julia was subsequently approached by Magic Light Pictures, who animate her stories, over lunch to see if she “would consider” making a change. She added: “I said ‘absolutely not’ and then went home and went straight to the computer because by that stage we had the pictures and I knew Betty had a pink dress and Reginald had the white suit, so I thought he could start the fire by cooking something and then I thought of pink and white marshmallows.
“I wrote it and I think it works really well that way. I am sorry in a way to lose the smoking but I think marshmallows do work well.”
The Scarecrows’ Wedding was first published in 2014 and book versions still contain Reginald choking on a cigar. When asked about the creation of the characters, Julia added: “I was looking for a female character because previously it was Zog and Highway Rat and lots of male characters. So Betty was the first character that came to mind.
“It took me ages to write because I had to send Harry off on a journey and it took a long time to work out that part of the storyline. In a way it is a Hollywood love story and it is very much like a light Italian opera where there is a humble peasant boy and girl and then a peddler comes along and almost seduces the heroine. I was thinking along those lines.”
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