Mog’s Christmas arrives on Channel 4 for the festive season in 2023. Following on from the success of the 2019 adaptation of The Tiger Who Came to Tea, classic feline Mog created by much-loved children’s author Judith Kerr will light up our Christmas TV viewing this year and also allow fans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Judith Kerr’s birth.
Mog’s Christmas will come alive, thanks to voices from a stellar cast. Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh will narrate, while The Crown star Claire Foy voices Mog’s owner Mrs Thomas and Benedict Cumberbatch voices her husband, Mr Thomas. Miriam Margolyes plays an aunt who visits the Thomas family at Christmas, leaving their cat Mog feeling excluded.
"It’s an enormous responsibility bringing Mog to the screen," says director Robin Shaw, whose team at Lupus Films also produced 2019’s hit adaptation The Tiger Who Came to Tea. "Replicating Judith’s illustrations in animation is a big enough job in itself, but key to making the film work is seeing the world through Mog’s eyes.
"There is an immense amount of detail about feline behaviour in Judith’s illustrations, too. But we’ve been trying out different techniques since we did Tiger, so look-wise, this will be a bit of an evolution."
There's more exciting news for Judith Kerr’s legion of fans, as Mog’s purrs and miaows will be provided by her real-life daughter Tacy Kneale. “Our own Mog was a huge part of my childhood,” says Tacy. “I hope I've done her justice!”
Here’s everything you need to know about Channel 4's enchanting adaptation of Mog's Christmas…
Mog’s Christmas release date
Mog’s Christmas is a short animated film that will be shown on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve, aka Sunday December 24, at 7.45pm. It will be a part of the channel’s 2024 Christmas highlights. We'll also update with any US or International air dates.
Is there a trailer for Mog’s Christmas?
Yes there's now an official trailer for Mog’s Christmas which will send you into a Whisker Wonderland! Take a look below and enjoy...
Mog’s Christmas plot
Mog’s Christmas features no less than 16,500 hand-drawn animated frames. Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch and The Crown’s Claire Foy voice Mr and Mrs Thomas as they busily prepare for Christmas with their children, Debbie and Nicky. But with a jolly Uncle (The Fast Show’s Charlie Higson) and two Aunts (Call the Midwife’s Miriam Margolyes and Ten Percent star Maggie Steed) also staying in the house, poor Mog is feeling overwhelmed and ignored.
Then, when Mr Thomas brings home an enormous tree, a startled Mog clambers onto the roof and refuses to budge. Will she rejoin the family and make it a merry Cat-mas for all? The Thomas family try everything to rescue her but Mog refuses to come down, and despite everyone’s fears for her safety, she has a magical night in the snow and a cat-themed Christmas dream.
Mog’s Christmas voice cast — narrator Adjoa Andoh
The narrator if Mog's Christmas is Adjoa Andoh, who is best known for playing Lady Agatha Danbury in Bridgerton and has also starred in Invictus, Broadchurch, Fractured, Liar, Doctor Who, EastEnders, Casualty and Thunderbirds Are Go. Last year she lent her voice to Grandmother Smoo in anther Christmas animation The Smeds and The Smoos and she narrated the TV series Serengeti and Kenya – au rythme des pluies.
Adjoa Andoh says "I've done a lot of animations over the decades. You come with your own sense of what you think the story is going to be, then you see the animation, then you hear the music, then you hear the other actors – and the roster for Mog is absolutely sterling – then you have conversations with the other creatives in the studio. It's a group effort, but you still have to hold on to your instinctive sense of what your part in the story is, because that's why you've been hired. It's always a collaboration, and that's the fun part."
Claire Foy voices Mrs Thomas
In Mog's Christmas, Claire Foy voices Mog’s owner Mrs Thomas. Claire is best known for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of The Crown. She’s also starred in A Very British Scandal, White Heat, First Man, Little Dorrit, Upstairs Downstairs, Wolf Hall and The Girl in the Spider’s Web.
Benedict Cumberbatch voice Mr Thomas
Benedict Cumberbatch voices Mr Thomas, who frightens Mog by bringing a Christmas tree into the house.
Benedict has previously starred as gay code-breaker Alan Turing in The Imitation Game and in Doctor Strange, The Power of the Dog, The Mauritanian, Brexit: The Uncivil War, Sherlock and Patrick Melrose. He'll be appearing in upcoming Netflix shows Eric and The Wonderful World Of Henry Sugar.
Who else is in the voice cast for Mog’s Christmas?
There are plenty of familiar voices in Mog’s Christmas. Listen out for Miriam Margolyes (Call The Midwife) and Maggie Steed (EastEnders, Shine On Harvey Moon) who play the aunts, Zawe Ashton (Fresh Meat) who is Mog’s neighbour Mrs Gaynor, Charlie Higson (The Fast Show) as the jolly uncle, comedian Gareth Berliner is the chestnut seller and newcomers Amelie Law and Teddy Skelton play children Debbie and Nicky.
"Judith Kerr has the Dickens touch; she invents a whole world and invites you to share it," says star Miriam Margolyes, 82, who also voiced alien The Meep in a recent Doctor Who 60th anniversary episode. "Her characters feel real and the illustrations are superb. The animals are like people and Mog is a powerful personality.
"Voices carry a great deal, too, and I loved the challenge of this. I made Aunt rather more upper-class than I am… and slightly more cantankerous!"
Mog’s Christmas theme song by Sophie Ellis-Bextor
The theme song to Mog’s Christmas also has a crack team behind it, with vocals from Murder on the Dancefloor singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The ballad has been written by the men behind the music for the film adaptation of Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Award-winning composer David Arnold, who’s worked on everything from James Bond movies to Sherlock, wrote the original score, while Oscar-winning lyricist and Radio 2 DJ Don Black penned the words.
"When I told my kids I’d been asked to sing Mog’s song, they couldn't really believe it because Mog has been part of our world since my eldest was small, and he's 20 next year! It feels really special," says singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
“I'd have been really annoyed if they’d have asked someone else – it takes you back to the days when you were reading the book to your kids, so it's a lovely thing to be asked to do," says David Arnold while Don Black adds: “We both had such a great time doing The Tiger Who Came To Tea that it was an easy decision to come back for Mog – it's a dream project for a lyricist."
Behind the scenes and more on Mog's Christmas
Mog’s Christmas was commissioned by Gwawr Lloyd, Drama Commissioning Editor and Caroline Hollick, Head of Drama at Channel 4 in association with Universal Pictures Content Group and produced by Lupus Films' founders Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding together with executive producers Juliet Matthews at HarperCollins Children’s Books, Judith Kerr’s children Tacy and Matthew Kneale and Ann-Janine Murtagh. It is directed by Robin Shaw (Director The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Co-Director We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Assistant Director The Snowman and The Snowdog) and written by Joanna Harrison (who adapted The Tiger Who Came to Tea, co-directed We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, and was Co-Writer and Art Director on The Snowman and The Snowdog). This new animated special will see a team of artists bring to life Judith Kerr's vivid illustrations in Lupus Films' distinctive, hand-drawn animated style from their studio in London.
Gwawr Lloyd, Drama Commissioning Editor at Channel 4 says: “We are utterly delighted to be bringing Mog to screen with our partners. It is the perfect Christmas tale full of fun and adventure with a star-studded cast including Claire Foy as Mrs Thomas and Benedict Cumberbatch as Mr Thomas. Channel 4 has a long-standing relationship with Lupus Films and together with their creative flair we have brought so many classic stories to the screen that have been enjoyed by generations of viewers. Judith Kerr’s much-loved Mog will be a great addition to this collection and a really special festive treat for the audience.”
Ruth Fielding, producer and co-founder of Lupus Films, adds: “We are delighted to create another animated film for Channel 4 and Universal Pictures Content Group working with our long-time collaborators, director Robin Shaw and screenwriter Joanna Harrison. This festive, family-friendly tale has huge cross generational appeal and is the perfect literary classic to adapt for the whole family to come together to watch. We are thrilled to once again bring Judith Kerr’s delightful illustrations to life in animation and to do so in the 100th anniversary of her birth feels very special”.
Juliet Matthews, Colour Publisher, HarperCollins Children’s Books, reveals: “HarperCollins Children’s Books is proud to be the home of all of Judith Kerr’s books. We are thrilled that the beloved Mog will now be introduced to a whole new generation of children through this delightful animation”.
