Watership Down stars share childhood terror of original

The cast of Watership Down have shared the terror they felt as they watched the film’s original animated version as children.

James Mcavoy, John Boyega, Gemma Arterton and Nicholas Hoult are among a star-studded cast voicing the rabbits in the BBC One version of the best-selling novel, famously adapted into a film in 1978.

Scottish actor Mcavoy, who plays Hazel, said watching the original as a child struck terror into him. Asked why he had taken the role in the reboot, he said: “From the deep love and terror that watching the 1978 animation put inside my bones, and then from reading the novel later in life when it blew me away all over again.”

Arterton, who plays naive hutch rabbit Clover, said she had been “petrified” by the “harrowing” original after watching it at a young age. The 32-year-old said: “Watership Down is such a classic story in British literature. I remember seeing the 1978 animation when I was very young – and being petrified by it. Having revisited the story as an adult, it’s so pertinent, especially for these days and these times.”

Stars War actor Boyega, 26, described the original film as “devastating” but suggested the emotional stakes were higher now with the added realism that computer generated imagery allowed.