Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and Mr. Toad pursue merry adventures in a charming adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's
Wind in the Willows,
a magical tale of animals who behave like Edwardian gentlemen in a world gone slightly mad. Treated before in animated versions, the beloved text gets the full BBC live-action treatment here with a characteristically splendid cast: Matt Lucas of
Little Britain
stars as the exuberant Mr. Toad; Bob Hoskins makes an appropriately sturdy Badger; Mark Gatiss (
The League of Gentlemen
) portrays Water Rat; and Lee Ingleby -- Stan Shunpike in
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
-- is Mole. Rounding out the cast are
Bleak House
-veteran Anna Maxwell Martin as Gaoler's Daughter and Academy Award nominee Imelda Staunton as Barge Lady. Debuting in the U.K. on BBC1 on January 1, 2007, this adaptation of Grahame's classic came to the U.S. via PBS's
Masterpiece Theatre
on April 8, 2007.