Channel 4 will be bringing more literary magic to Christmas with The Tiger Who Came To Tea and it’s recently confirmed a stellar cast to go alongside the brilliant story and music. It’ll be a fitting tribute to author Judith Kerr, who passed away earlier in the year, with a Channel 4 air date planned for winter 2019 (details below) and hopefully another incredible song surprise following up on George Ezra’s Me & You in We’re Going On A Bear Hunt.
The team behind the upcoming animated story includes director Robin Shaw and writer Joanna Harrison, who were co-directors of We’re Going On A Bear Hunt. It’s being produced by Lupus Films, which was also at the helm of Shaw and Harrison’s last animated film, so it’s a setup that has worked well in the past.
For anyone not familiar with the story, you’ll probably be able to get the concept from the title. It’s about a little girl called Sophie and her mum, who’s tea gets interrupted by a fairly ravenous tiger. It’s white tummy looks a lot like a large napkin and it’s able to sit upright to enjoy its meal, so this is clearly going to be a good prelude to a big wintery feast when the air date rolls around. You can find out more about the story at Join The Bear Hunt.
The Tiger Who Came To Tea film cast
The starring role of the tiger goes to Hollywood film actor David Oyelowo, who won critical acclaim for his part in Selma and Queen of Katwe. He’s joined by fellow cast members Tamsin Greig (Episodes) as Sophie’s mum, Benedict Cumberbatch (Avengers Endgame) as her dad and Paul Whitehouse (The Fast Show) as the milkman.
Newcomer Clara Ross makes her television debut at seven-years-old as Sophie and David Walliams (Little Britain) has been cast as the narrator of The Tiger Who Came To Tea.
Music and song
As We’re Going On A Bear Hunt has such a sparkling combination of music and song, we’re expecting similar levels of effort to be directed at The Tiger Who Came To Tea. Whether or not George Ezra returns to create another new song or the production opts to bring in another big-name talent to create a new track, it’s got a lot to live up to with Me & You.
It’s not just the closer song though that will be important, as the music score that runs throughout the film is going to be a big part of the festive fun. Obviously, the story itself isn’t very Christmassy, so it’s going to be interesting to see how much is changed to bring the story to life for the winter holiday air date.
Air date
While Channel 4 has only confirmed that The Tiger Who Came To Tea air date will be “this Christmas”, we can base a lot on the previous film, We’re Going On A Bear Hunt. It first aired on the 24th December 2016, and we’re expecting the upcoming production to arrive at the same time. You can keep tabs on Channel 4 with its official Twitter page.
How to watch the full movie
Obviously, you can catch it on Channel 4 when it airs, but if you miss it you’ll probably have around a month to watch it on All 4, Channel 4’s streaming service. However, if you miss that or you want to add The Tiger Who Came To Tea to your collection then you will be able to download the full movie on either iTunes or Amazon Video.
We’re Going On A Bear Hunt first arrived to buy in full on either service on the 25th December 2016, so you could even make it a Christmas present for anyone that wants to watch the film outside of the UK.
