Worzel Gummidge returns to TV screens

Mackenzie Crook will return as Worzel Gummidge after the BBC recommissioned his modern-day adaptation for a one-hour special.

The 48-year- old Detectorists star wrote, directed and starred in the original episodes, which aired as two hour-long films on BBC One over the Christmas period. The new episode will see the walking, talking scarecrow come across a foul-mouthed old friend, a carved ship’s figure head called Saucy Nancy, in a scrapyard.

Along with friends Susan and John, Gummidge will help Saucy Nancy, played by Harry Potter star Shirley Henderson, return to the sea in search of her ship, making the journey by bus, wheelbarrow, and motorbike and sidecar. The modern adaptation is inspired by the classic books by Barbara Euphan Todd.