DOWN ON ALL FOURS
Who is in the Watership Down cast? John Boyega, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley star
BBC'S latest festive adaptation retells the classic story of a group of rabbits fleeing human violence and the impending destruction of their home.
The reimagining of Richard Adams’ novel boasts a seriously starry voice cast for the CGI animated rabbits. Here is everything you need to know...
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Who's in the Watership Down cast?
James McAvoy
Born 21 April 1979, James McAvoy is a Scottish actor from Glasgow, Scotland.
The 39-year-old, who is playing the lead role of Hazel, was raised by his grandparents because his mother suffered from poor health.
He is best known for his roles in The Chronicles of Narnia, The Last King of Scotland, and as a young Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise.
James met his ex-wife and fellow Watership Down cast member Anne-Marie Duff on the set of Channel 4's Shameless and the pair has one son together.
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Nicholas Hoult
Nicholas Hoult is an English actor who was born on December 7 1989, and is best known for his role as Hank McCoy in the X-Men franchise.
He will be once again joining forces with X-Men castmate James McAvoy in Watership Down as Hazel's younger brother Fiver, a seer who is haunted by visions of destruction.
Hoult's breakthrough role was Marcus Brewer in the 2002 comedy drama About a Boy, and he then went on to play Tony Stonem in E4's Skins.
The Sun exclusively revealed how Nicholas and underwear model Bryana Holly had started dating in November 2017 and in April this year, the two had their first child together.
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John Boyega
John Boyega was born in Peckham, South London on March 17, 1992 and will play the stubborn but strong rabbit, Bigwig.
Before finding international fame in Star Wars, he featured in apocalyptic comedy Attack the Block.
John was cast as a main character, stormtrooper Finn, in the highly anticipated Star Wars franchise revival in 2015's The Force Awakens.
He has since starred in drama Detroit, which focused on the police brutality of the real-life 1967 Detroit riots, and drama The Circle opposite Emma Watson and Tom Hanks.
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Gemma Arterton
Gemma Arterton was born February 2, 1986, and made her film debut in the 2007 cult comedy St Trinian's.
Her breakthrough role came a year later as a Bond girl in 2008's Quantum of Solace before she starred in Clash of the Titans and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.
The 32-year-old plays one of the Hutch Rabbits Clover, who escapes from the farm with Hazel, Pipkin and Blackberry to Watership Down.
In 2010, she married Italian businessman Stefano Catelli but the two divorced in August 2015.
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Who else is in the cast of Watership Down?
- Daniel Kaluuya as Bluebell
- Olivia Colman plays Strawberry
- Peter Capaldi is Kehaar
- Miles Jupp as Blackberry
- Anne-Marie Duff is Hyzenthlay
- Rosamund Pike plays The Black Rabbit of Inlé
- Taron Egerton as El-Ahrairah
- Ben Kingsley as General Woundwort
When is Watership Down on BBC and Netflix?
Watership Down will air as two feature-length episodes on BBC1 this weekend, starting TONIGHT (Saturday, December 22) at 7pm and continuing Sunday, December 23 at 7.20pm.
If you miss it, it'll be available to catch up on the BBC iPlayer after it airs and the mini-series will also be uploaded onto Netflix for international viewers.
Watership Down has been adapted numerous times since the book's original publication, most notably for the 1978 film with John Hurt.
According to , the BBC has blown a budget close to that of TV hit The Night Manager, which cost £3m per hour and a total of around £18m, though nothing has been confirmed.
1970's kids film Watership Down features horrific scenes of blood-soaked rabbits ripping each other apart
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