‘Magical Things Happen...'

Mackenzie Crook tells TV Times about bringing his version of a children’s classic to our screens

- Ian Macewan

On a glorious summer’s day in Buckinghamshire, a strangely clad, stick-thin figure with a turnip-shaped head is smelling flowers in a hedgerow down a country lane that borders a field.

TV Times is on set for BBC1’s new adaptation of Worzel Gummidge, and the curious character wearing a faded, military-style overcoat and a big floppy hat is none other than Mackenzie Crook of The Office and Detectorists fame, who is playing the magical talking scarecrow.

Mackenzie, who also adapted and directed the two Worzel adventures being shown this festive season, is barely recognizable underneath the prosthetics that transform him into his version of the character. He looks quite different from the Jon Pertwee incarnation that viewers of a certain age may recall from the late 1970s and early 1980s ITV series.

During a break in filming, Mackenzie, 48, sat down to talk us through his passion project…

Were you a fan of the Worzel Gummidge series starring Jon Pertwee?

I never watched it. I was from one of those strange, old-fashioned families who watched the BBC but commercial TV was almost frowned upon! Perhaps if I had been fond of the original series, I’d have been more wary of taking it on!

Your Worzel looks very different from the previous version. How did that come about?