Superworm author Julia Donaldson on TV tradition ahead of BBC Christmas Day special

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a TV adaptation of a Julia Donaldson-Axel Scheffler title.

The duo’s book-to-screen adaptations are a lynchpin of the BBC Christmas schedule – and this year they look set to continue their festive reign with the wonderful Superworm.

For those who are yet to be acquainted with this unlikely comic hero, the super-long and super-strong Superworm is always saving the day.

Paired once again with the award-winning Magic Light Pictures, the one-off animation – the ninth TV adaptation of a Donaldson/Scheffler title for BBC One and BBC iPlayer – stars a first-rate voice cast, including Olivia Colman as narrator, Matt Smith as Superworm himself, Patricia Allison as Butterfly, and annual returnee Rob Brydon as the Crow.

The film follows in the footsteps of The Gruffalo, Stick Man, and The Snail And The Whale, amongst others, with last year’s Zog And The Flying Doctors securing an impressive seven million viewers on the big day.

Donaldson, 73, quips: “The story is really that Superworm is a… super worm.

“He hasn’t really got particular superpowers, but he’s just very strong and big and helps the other creatures out, (such as) he turns himself into a lasso to stop a baby toad being run

over; he turns himself into a fishing line to save a drowning beetle; and he turns himself into a skipping rope to help some bored bees have some activity.

“But then the wicked Wizard Lizard hears about this worm and thinks that maybe he can burrow treasure in the ground and so gets his evil servant Crow to capture Superworm.

“But there’s a rescue; all the animals that he’s helped club together and work out a clever plan.”

Where did the inspiration for this particular tale come from?

Donaldson says: “Well, Axel Scheffler is very good at drawing little bugs – if you look at any of the other books, there’s always little butterflies or ants that he’s created, which weren’t in the text at all.

“For a long time, I thought I’d love to do a book about insects and bugs and garden creatures, but I couldn’t really think of a hook to hang it on.

“But then, separately from that, I thought I’d never done a superhero book – probably at the stage that one of my grandchildren was really into Batman and Superman and Spider Man themselves.

“So then I just put the two things together: my superhero would be this worm.

“Sometimes that happens; you have two separate ideas, and they spark off each other and that’s how a story starts.

What is it like watching her characters come to life on screen?

“I suppose it’s an extension of what it’s like when I write a story and it’s illustrated.

“And in fact it’s not a sudden thing; it’s not as if I’m sitting there on Christmas Day like, ‘I wonder what it’s going to be like’, because I’m involved throughout the whole process.

“They show me the initial screenplay and Axel as well, so it’s quite gradual. They’ve actually created a (new) character in the film, a butterfly, and they’ve made Superworm get a bit big for his boots. I think, for a film, they have to slightly expand on what’s there (in the book).”

Her work, though, has become a key part of the Christmas schedules, year on year.

“I suppose it has (become quite the tradition), really.

“I’m sure there’s plenty of people who watch The Snowman every year still – not all my stories are very Christmassy but, touch wood, up until now they have always been shown on Christmas Day.

“We always watch the animation, but it’s a bit mind-blowing to think that there are all these millions of people in the UK watching at Christmastime too.

Donaldson as lots of grandchildren. Are they suitably impressed by her writing?

“I have nine and they’re all under 11! I think it’s when they go to school that they start feeling a sense of – I hope – pride.

“Obviously when they’re very little, they just (think) ‘Granny writes these books’. And, of course, children don’t really understand what it means to write a book.

“In a signing queue, a mother might say to their child, ‘Oh look, this is the lady who wrote your favourite book’, and the child immediately thinks that I have got some paper and glue and stuff and made that child’s individual book. It takes them a while to understand that this is the lady who makes up the stories in her head.

“Lots of schools do projects about my books, and some schools seem to have a ‘Julia Donaldson’ class… I don’t think any of my grandchildren’s schools do, though!”

When it comes to tips for aspiring writers, Donaldson believes the work itself needs to be top drawer.

“Well, I think, just the story. The plot needs to be good. And the language.

“For me those are the two things that are really important because the character is usually quite broad, quite bold, and you can describe it.

“Like Superworm is strong and helpful. And the Wizard Lizard is greedy and controlling. And then the illustrator will bring out those characters and make them feel a bit more rounded. But, actually, from the writer’s point of view – I’m talking about writing for very young children when you’ve got very few words – it’s much more the storyline with a nice twist in it and a happy ending, but maybe not quite in the way people could predict.”

Colman admitted she kept giggling while listening to Smith and Brydon act out the voices of Superworm and the Crow and noted the process for voice acting was to “try not to be embarrassed”.

When it comes to the big day itself, Donaldson and her family keep close.

“We always watch the (BBC One) animation on Christmas Day, but I think mainly it’s just fun playing games. We play this game called the adverbs game, where one person goes out of the room and the others think of an adverb, like, if it’s just for very little children, you might say ‘happily’.

"And then they come back in, and they ask you questions, and you have to answer ‘happily’. So we just do those sorts of things and charades. It’s very much a family time.

“We’re going to Scotland this Christmas to see our son and daughter-in-law up there who have got six children – all 10 and under. They’ve got about 25 or more cousins so there will be loads and loads of children around!”

Superworm will air on BBC One on Christmas Day.