Julia Donaldson and Rob Brydon on bringing straw-pendous Christmas magic in The Scarecrow’s Wedding
- ontargetmedia8
- 15 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Laura Harding talks to the best-selling author about the latest adaptation of her beloved books.
From an adventurous fish, an ambitious dragon and a dastardly rat to a cunning mouse, lovestruck aliens or a lost stick, the latest animated adaptation of a book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler has been synonymous with Christmas for children around the country.
The Gruffalo, Zog, Stick Man and last year’s Tiddler have all brought warmth and cosy magic to Christmas and the short films are now a staple of Christmas Day.
Now The Scarecrow’s Wedding joins the canon and tells the story of two devoted scarecrows, Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay, voiced by Irish stars Jessie Buckley and Domhnall Gleeson, who are gathering together everything they need for a wedding to remember.
When Harry insists on leaving the farm to collect one last thing for their big day, a smooth-talking and caddish scarecrow named Reginald Rake, voiced by Gavin & Stacey actor Rob Brydon, swoops in and sparks chaos.
The story holds a special place in the heart of author and former children’s laureate Donaldson, who is also responsible for books including Room On The Broom, The Smeds And The Smoos, The Snail And The Whale and The Highway Rat, which are as beloved by parents as they are by children.
“It’s probably the only one in which the main characters are sort of human,” she explains. “They’re not, they’re scarecrows, but they’re people, they’re not animals.
“But also I played Betty when we did it at the Edinburgh Fringe, it was my role, and I enjoyed doing that.”
The author starred in a stage production opposite her late husband Malcolm, who died in 2024, and the story brings back happy memories.
“The whole thing being about a wedding, that resonates, and it was fun doing that show, walking around trying to do Irish accents. It was just a fun thing to do,” she says.
Donaldson, 77, is low key for an author who has sold more than 50 million books worldwide and who earlier this year supplanted Harry Potter writer JK Rowling to become the UK’s all-time top author in terms of units sold.
The animations of her books, created with German illustrator Axel Scheffler, are now part of the BBC Christmas firmament, starting with The Gruffalo in 2009.
Painstakingly created by production company Magic Light Pictures, the short films are remarkably faithful to the source material.
“They’re not allowed to make changes,” Donaldson says firmly. “They’re not allowed to change the script at all. We turned down ages ago a Hollywood offer to do the Gruffalo. They would have just done a 90-minute film, probably the Gruffalo and the mouse go to the moon or something like that, and I just wouldn’t be interested at all.”
But this year there is a notable change to the adaptation. In the book, a fire in the scarecrow’s field is started by a cigar wielded by the baddie Reginald Rake, but on TV the fire starts when he is roasting marshmallows, in accordance with broadcasting rules banning smoking in children’s programming.
“There had to be a fire, and water was going to put out the fire, so I needed to think of a reason for the fire. In the book, the fire is started by Reginald Rake through smoking and I thought that was really good and it shows Reginald Rake in a really bad light – because he’s a baddie, he’s smoking,” Donaldson says.
“Betty, in the original book, says ‘Smoking is bad for you’, and he gets a terrible cough, he starts a fire, so it really shows how bad smoking is.
“But apparently, in the world of children’s film, you’re not allowed to show anyone smoking.
“I personally think it would be better for children to come across smoking in the context of a film or a book and then their parents can talk about it and say it’s not a great thing, especially if a baddie is doing it, than to see someone in a doorway smoking.”
When she was initially asked to make the change for the animation, Donaldson was initially blunt in her reply – “Absolutely not!” – but then set to work thinking up a suitable alternative.
“By that stage I had the pictures so I knew that Betty had a pink dress, and Reginald Rake had this white coat and I thought we could start the fire by cooking something, and then I thought marshmallows – pink and white.
“I think it works really well like that. I’m sorry, in a way, to lose the smoking but I do think the marshmallows work well.”
Welsh actor Brydon, who has lent his voice to all 13 of the Magic Light adaptations, took delight in voicing the caddish antagonist, even without his troublesome cigar.
“There is sort of a hint of Terry Thomas (the comedian from the 1950s and 60s), a bit of Leslie Phillips (the smooth-talking Carry On star), it’s just very natural and instinctive.
“As ever it’s just a delight to be part of such a quality venture. From the book, which has been around for a long time, it seems such a perfect marriage with Magic Light and the creativity that they bring to it and I love just coming in and doing some voice work.
“On some of them, like this one, it’s quite a bit, and then others, like Room On The Broom, I literally just go meow. But it’s always such a great thing to be part of and this, I think, is one of my favourites, because he is rather caddish and I’ve not played that sort of role in Julia’s world before.
“The Gruffalo was the first one and I was just asked to do it and John Hurt was in the cast, and James Corden, so that was a thrill, and of course I was aware of the books, because I’ve had many children.
“I’ve got five kids, from 32 to 14, so it’s been part of my life. So I did the first one, and then The Gruffalo’s Child was the next one and then they asked again, and then the next one again.
“There has been an arc to it, where I’ve gone ‘Oh, I wonder if they will ask me next time,’ and it kept going and then it went to ‘Oh, I hope they don’t stop asking me now, because that will be awkward.'”
“And now, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I do expect the call. And pride, as we know, comes before a fall,” he jokes.
“I just love doing it. I love being part of something so beautiful and positive and warm and lovely, and it being on Christmas Day, there’s something lovely about that.”
