It’s probably about the right time to start getting excited about Christmas telly. You’ve probably already got your bingo pens ready to start marking up your bumper edition Radio Times (the one time of the year you buy one), so here’s an early heads-up to add Channel 4’s We’re Going On A Bear Hunt to your forward looking seasonal strategic televisual plans.
Made by the creators of The Snowman it’s sure to be an instant Christmas classic, especially with an air date on Channel 4 at 7:30pm on Christmas Eve. It’s bound to be one of the big festive programmes over the Christmas holidays, but if you miss it, you should be able to catch up on 4OD, so you can still get in a Christmas Eve glass of mulled babysham and watch We’re Going On A Bear Hunt in the morning inbetween trying on your new socks and helping out with the sprout preparation.
The new half hour film is based on the best-selling book of the same name, written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, with a plot that trails a family as they deal with the trials and tribulations of the approach to Christmas. When mum and dad are forced to leave the children in the home alone in the week before Christmas as they go to rescue Grandma, Stan, Katie, Rosie, and baby Max, along with their dog Rufus, they decide to head out on their own mission to find a bear.
Rambling on through snowstorms, near impenetrable mud and a forest as dark and deep as they come, it makes for an incredible adventure, but when they find themselves split up it all becomes a whole lot more serious for them. And then there’s the inevitable presence of a bear to take into account.
There are a few big names in the voice cast with Olivia Colman (The Night Manager) playing the mum of the family, along with Mark Williams (The Fast Show, Red Dwarf, Doctor Who) as dad and Pam Ferris (Nativity) as grandma. Author Michael Rosen has also been cast in the film
We’re Going On a Bear Hunt is a Lupus Films Production in association with Bear Hunt Films, Walker Productions and Herrick Entertainment for Channel 4 Television Corporation. Joanna Harrison and Robin Shaw are co-directors. Ruth Fielding and Camilla Deakin have produced the film with Norton Herrick, Helen McAleer and Julia Posen as executive producers.
With hand-drawn animation, a great cast and the might of the team that created The Snowman behind it, We’re Going On A Bear Hunt is sure to be an unmissable new family cartoon. It’s the kind of film you don’t really see all that much of these days with the takeover presence of CGI, which is one of the big reasons we’re looking forward to seeing it so much. There’s a beautiful, mesmerising magic to the visual style of The Snowman, so if this can tap into the same genius then it’ll be a hit for years to come.
