A MOG'S LIFE

MOG'S CHRISTMAS Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy star in an adaptation of Judith Kerr's classic.

- GABRIEL TATE

Judith Kerr’s series of Mog picture books began in 1970 and has sold more than four million copies around the world. Now Lupus Films, who drew David Oyelowo, Benedict Cumberbatch and David Walliams to voice the characters in Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea, which aired on C4 in December 2019, have brought their hand-drawn animation skills to Mog’s Christmas, in which the grumpy cat must reluctantly contend with the Thomas family’s baffling festive preparations.

BASKET CASES 

Although the author died in 2019, her children Tacy and Matthew Kneale were keen to collaborate with Lupus once again. ‘We’d always wanted to do the Mog books,’ says producer Camilla Deakin. ‘Judith’s got an incredible eye for detail and a great sense of humour, and the family scenarios are so relatable for anyone now or back when she first wrote the books. They’re so warm and joyous, and we’ve always felt that hand-drawn animation, even if it’s on computer screens, can have a particular effect on audiences if you’re telling an emotional story.’

FELINE GROOVY