“Drive” and “Pusher” filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn has set the cast for his new adaptation of Enid Blyton’s classic children’s adventure book series “The Famous Five” at the BBC.
Diaana Babnicova will play the role of George, alongside Elliott Rose as Julian, Kit Rakusen as Dick, and Flora Jacoby Richardson as Anne. The quartet, along with George’s faithful dog Timothy, make up the ‘famous five’ who stay at Kirrin Cottage over the Summer.
The stories follow the kids as they get caught up in adventures that usually involve criminals, lost treasure, secret passages and more. The property has been adapted for film and TV multiple times before.
Joining the newcomers in the main roles are some more familiar faces in supporting parts. These include Ann Akinjirin (“Moon Knight”) and James Lance (“Ted Lasso”) as George’s parents Fanny and Quentin, respectively. Also onboard are Jack Gleeson (“Game of Thrones”) as Wentworth and Diana Quick (“Father Brown”) as Mrs Wentworth.
Filming is set to take place shortly across the southwest of the UK and will be one of the highest-profile series to come out of the BBC Children’s department in recent years.
Blyton wrote twenty-one books in the series, which was an immense commercial success and has remained one of the best-selling series for children ever written, with sales totalling over a hundred million copies.
Refn will act as creator and executive producer for NWR Originals, Moonage Pictures, The BBC and German public broadcaster ZDF. Tim Kirkby (“The Pentaverate”) will helm the three 90-minute episodes.
Source: BBC
