New Watership Down Mini-series announced

rhombus · **on:** May 30, 2016, 04:01:28 AM

I just came across this press release from the BBC, which was released in April. It appears that a new four-part miniseries of Watership Down is set for release in 2017 for the BBC (for those in the UK) and Netflix (for all of us outside of the UK). The all-star cast of voice actors has been announced, as indicated in the press release:

Quote

The series, written by Tom Bidwell (Bafta-nominated My Mad Fat Diary) and directed by Noam Murro (300: Rise Of The Empire), will star James McAvoy (Filth, X-Men) as Hazel, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men) as Fiver, award-winning Sir Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island, Iron Man 3) as General Woundwort, John Boyega (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Attack The Block) as Bigwig, Gemma Arterton (Made In Dagenham) as Clover, Miles Jupp (Rev, The Thick Of It) as Blackberry, Freddie Fox (Pride) as Captain Holly, Olivia Colman (The Night Manager, The Lobster) as Strawberry, and Anne-Marie Duff (Suffragette) as Hyzenthlay.

This will be the first Watership Down production since the television series completed its original run in 2001. As a fan of the original book (which is still one of my favorite books) and the film, I eagerly look forward to seeing this production of the tale.

It was this story that awakened my original interest in reading fiction, and I hope that this production can convey this awesome story to a new generation of potential fans.

DarkWolf91 · **Reply #1 on:** May 30, 2016, 12:55:03 PM

Interesting! I've enjoyed the other adaptations so far. Hopefully they don't water it down too much in this new run.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #2 on:** May 31, 2016, 11:48:25 PM

Considering some of the dark places modern kid's shows are willing to go, I don't think we have to worry about it being toned down too much. I'm perfectly fine with not seeing a lot of blood and gore if they retain all the important themes of the book. ...Unfortunately, a part of the book's theme is what a dangerous place the world is for rabbits, so the intense violence did serve to back that up.

ADFan185 · **Reply #3 on:** June 01, 2016, 04:24:41 AM

Hopefully they do keep it original and not tone Down the blood or gore. Since it's keeping true to the books.

rhombus · **Reply #4 on:** June 01, 2016, 11:13:13 PM

Quote from: WeirdRaptor,May 31 2016 on 10:48 PM

Considering some of the dark places modern kid's shows are willing to go, I don't think we have to worry about it being toned down too much. I'm perfectly fine with not seeing a lot of blood and gore if they retain all the important themes of the book. ...Unfortunately, a part of the book's theme is what a dangerous place the world is for rabbits, so the intense violence did serve to back that up.

I agree. The basic plot of the book has dark themes, so I don't think they will tone it down too much.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #5 on:** June 02, 2016, 01:18:27 AM

Yep, and since this is the BBC, well... a lot of us have seen Doctor Who. They aren't shy about giving children nightmares. BBC's philosophy to children's programming seems to be "throw the main characters headfirst into peril and let God sort 'em out", anyway.