You can get your festive dose of Doctor Who on Christmas Day (sort of) because Matt Smith is the voice of the titular character in Superworm!
This is the BBC Christmas Day adaptation of the Julia Donaldson story about a heroic worm who’s super strong and super long… and who gets in a world of trouble when he’s captured by the Wizard Lizard.
Matt Smith, who played the Eleventh Doctor between 2010 and 2013 (plus a cameo in 2014), said:
“I think you always warm to stories about friendship and this is a very charming tale of friendship and self-understanding for one small worm. There’s a charm, there’s a wit, and there’s a lightness of touch and hopefulness that fits really well into Christmas Day… I’ve never done an animation, and I read this and I thought it was sweet and interesting and fun.”
He’s joined by his The Eleventh Hour co-star, Olivia Colman (Narrator), as well as Rob Brydon (the Crow), Patricia Allison (the Butterfly), and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Wizard Lizard).
Colman added:
“This is such a lovely project to be involved with. When reading the script, and imagining all those goings on at the end of the garden, I could really get a feel for the pure fun and joy that the film will bring. I’ve always loved these charming productions at Christmas and I’m delighted to be voicing the narrator.”
Superworm joins a long line of Donaldson adaptations, including The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, and The Highway Rat (starring the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant).
Patricia Allison said:
“The Magic Light animations are such an important part of the Christmas TV schedule, I’m excited to become part of that tradition.”
Rob Brydon said:
“This will be my ninth appearance in a Donaldson/ Scheffler adaptation. Working on these Magic Light productions is always a delight and deciding how to voice characters is such fun. I love watching them on TV at Christmas – a lovely way to round off my year.”
Martin Pope, Co-Founder Magic Light Pictures, concluded:
“It’s a lovely comedy. Superworm’s a brilliant central character, who has great friends who will ultimately triumph over the wonderfully entertaining villain, in this delightful story based on the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.”
We’ve been racking our brains to think of another production, so… is this the first Christmas Day project with Matt Smith in since 2013’s The Time of the Doctor?!
Either way, you can enjoy Superworm tomorrow (25th December 2021, in case you need reminding!), on BBC1 at 2:30pm then on iPlayer.
