On Christmas Day, the BBC aired 'The Scarecrows’ Wedding', a new animation by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Fans of the duo's work may have spotted a familiar character making a surprise appearance: the Gruffalo.
The Gruffalo has been hidden as an 'easter egg' in previous BBC animations, such as a fish in 'Tiddler', a decoration in 'Zog', and an alien in 'The Smeds and the Smoos'. In 'The Scarecrows’ Wedding', the Gruffalo appears on a tractor, with a sign reading 'Gruff-Tor' and a small metal image of the creature. It appears less than two minutes into the episode and again after around eight minutes.
The half-hour special features a love story between scarecrows Betty and Harry, voiced by Jessie Buckley and Domhnall Gleeson, with Rob Brydon as Reginald Rake. Narrated by Sophie Okonedo, the story required changes from the original book, as Julia Donaldson explained that a scene involving Reginald smoking a cigar had to be altered for the animation.
Donaldson said: “In the book, the fire is started by Reginald Rake through smoking. I thought that was really good because it shows him in a really bad light. But apparently in the world of children’s films you are not allowed to show anyone smoking.” She replaced the cigar with marshmallows, which she felt worked well.
'The Scarecrows’ Wedding' was first published in 2014, and the book still contains the original smoking scene. Donaldson noted that she wanted to create a female lead character, as previous stories had featured mostly male protagonists.
