The Big Bounce

It's refreshing to see Britain's acting royalty throw dignity to the wind for animated features. Dame Judi Dench has recently invited all manner of schoolyard mockery by playing an old cow in Home On The Range (uttely inappropriate as she's really quite lovely), and now Sir Ian McKellen has chosen to do the same in The Magic Roundabout. Swapping all below the waist for a spring and embracing the joys of suspect facial hair, Sir Ian will lend his distinctive tones to the role of Zebedee, the exuberant bouncy bloke in the upcoming adaptation. Landing a role previously thought to have been bagged by Richard O'Brien, McKellen will join Jim Broadbent's Brian, Joanna Lumley's Ermintrude, Kylie Minogue's Florence, Bill Nighy's Dylan and Robbie Williams' Dougal in this rather ambitious big screen outing for the drug metaphor-laden kids' TV show. Marvellous!