Roald Dahl's classic novel is brought to life by Cosgrove Hall. The tale focuses
     on a Big Friendly Giant - the BFG of the title - and a young girl called Sophie.
     One night Sophie is snatched from her orphanage bed by the BFG and carted
     off to Dream Country. The BFG spends his days and nights catching pleasant
     dreams and blowing them into childrens' bedrooms. But trouble is looming in
     the form of Bloodbottler and Fleshlumpeater, a nasty pair of giants who
     like to eat children. With these two scallywags in hot pursuit, Sophie and the
     BFG enlist the help of the Queen of England. Sophie invents a dream for the
     Queen who, in return, allows them to use her Army to defeat their child-hungry
     pursuants...

     Cosgrove Hall's film was first broadcast on ITV on Christmas Day 1989. It was
     originally conceived as a theatrical feature but was downgraded along the way.
     It still covered its production costs handsomely through home video sales and
     was well-received by critics and viewers. The film went on to be nominated for a
     Best Children's Programme 1990 BAFTA Award.

     The voice of the BFG was recorded by David "Del-Boy" Jason. Jason was a
     Cosgrove Hall regular at this time, having already created the lead voices
     for DangerMouse, Count Duckula, and Toad in The Wind in the Willows.
     Amongst the animation crew was ex-Fleetway comics artist Joe McCaffrey,
     (see: The Big Mustapha).

     The music and songs for "The BFG" were penned by Malcolm Rowe and Keith
     Hopwood of Pluto studios. The duo had earlier scored Alias the Jester, "Creepy
     Crawlies, "Wind in the Willows" and more for Cosgrove Hall, and Keith was
     formerly a member of those happy-hippies from the 60's, Herman's Hermits...
 
     Prior to the film version, in 1986, cartoonist Bill Asprey (Love Is...) and writer
     Brian Lee adapted "The BFG" into a hugely-successful comic strip version. With
     Roald Dahl's approval they developed the characters and scenarios to generate
     a strip which eventually ran for 12 years in "The Mail on Sunday".

 

     Some Big Friendly Facts

     » According to Roald Dahl's wife Liccy Dahl, "The BFG" was her late
         husband's favourite book...

     » And the movie version happens to be one of Brian Cosgrove's
         favourite productions...

     » The character of the giant was actually based on a chap called
         Wally Saunders, who built Roald's writing shed in the garden of his
         house in Buckinghamshire...

     » The character of Sophie is named after Roald Dahl's granddaughter
         Sophie Dahl who, as most will know, is a rather successful
         model-turned-actress...

     » Trivia Hounds will notice that the boy who dreams he becomes
         invisible has a DangerMouse poster above his bed!

 

     Promos/Tie-ins
     
    "The BFG Film Storybook" was published by Puffin Books in 1989, and it
    re-tells the Cosgrove Hall film in comic strip form - the panels being stills
    from the film...

    

 

     The BFG on DVD

      The BFG
                Region 2 / Prism / April 2002

 

      director:         Brian Cosgrove
     producers:      Mark Hall, Brian Cosgrove
     exec prod:      John Hambley
     writer:            adapted by John Hambley
                           from Roald Dahl's 1984 book
     music:            Malcolm Rowe, Keith Hopwood
     film editing:     Nigel Rutter
     voices:            David Jason (BFG)
                           Amanda Root (Sophie)
                           Don Henderson (Bloodbottler/Fleshlumpeater)
                           Mollie Sugden (Mary)
                           Angela Thorne (Queen of England)
                           Frank Thornton (Mr Tibbs)
                           Michael Knowles (Head of the Air Force)
                           Ballard Berkley (Head of the Army)
                           Myfanwy Talog (Mrs Clonkers)
                           Jimmy Hibbert (additional voices)

 

      On the web


        Bill Asprey
        Cartoonist Bill Asprey presents his BFG strip online here...

        Pluto Music
        Malcolm Rowe and Keith Hopwood go back a long way with Cosgrove
        Hall - back to Alias The Jester, like I said earlier. Here's their official studio
        site with info on their musical CV, past and present...

        Cosgrove Hall Ate My Brain
        Laura's site covers each and every Cosgrove Hall series on her
        ever-expanding fansite...