Watership Down (2018 TV series)

Watership Down
Title screen for the first episode
Genre	Action Adventure Fantasy Drama Adult animation
Based on	Watership Down by Richard Adams
Written by	Tom Bidwell
Directed by	Noam Murro
Starring	James McAvoy Nicholas Hoult John Boyega Ben Kingsley Tom Wilkinson Gemma Arterton Peter Capaldi Olivia Colman Mackenzie Crook
Music by	Federico Jusid
Opening theme	"Fire on Fire" (written and performed by Sam Smith)
Ending theme	"Fire on Fire" (written and performed by Sam Smith)
Country of origin	United Kingdom Ireland United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producers	Rory Aitken Eleanor Moran Ben Pugh Josh Varney
Producers	Georgia Dussaud Cecil Kramer
Editor	Andrew Walton
Running time	50–51 minutes
Production companies	42 Biscuit Filmworks BBC Netflix
Budget	£20 million
Original release
Network	BBC One (United Kingdom) Netflix (international)
Release	22 December (2018-12-22) – 23 December 2018 (2018-12-23)

Watership Down is a CGI-animated adventure fantasy drama television miniseries directed by Noam Murro. It is based on the 1972 novel of the same name by Richard Adams and adapted by Tom Bidwell. It was released on 22 December 2018 in the United Kingdom and internationally on Netflix the next day. The BBC broadcast comprised two back-to-back episodes per day.

The music video for "Fire on Fire" (from Watership Down) by Sam Smith was released on 21 December 2018.

Voice cast

Main article: List of Watership Down characters

• James McAvoy as Hazel
• Nicholas Hoult as Fiver
• John Boyega as Bigwig
• Ben Kingsley as General Woundwort
• Tom Wilkinson as Threarah
• Gemma Arterton as Clover
• Peter Capaldi as Kehaar
• Olivia Colman as Strawberry
• Mackenzie Crook as Hawkbit
• Anne-Marie Duff as Hyzenthlay
• Taron Egerton as El-Ahrairah
• Freddie Fox as Captain Holly
• James Faulkner as Frith
• Lee Ingleby as Campion
• Miles Jupp as Blackberry
• Daniel Kaluuya as Bluebell
• Rory Kinnear as Cowslip
• Craig Parkinson as Sergeant Sainfoin
• Rosamund Pike as the Black Rabbit of Inlé
• Daniel Rigby as Dandelion
• Jason Watkins as Captain Orchis
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Vervain
• Gemma Chan as Dewdrop
• Rosie Day as Thethuthinnang
• Emeli Sande as Thethuthinang Singing Voice
• Henry Goodman as Blackavar
• Peter Guinness as Silverweed
• Charlotte Spencer as Nettle

Production

In July 2014, it was announced that the BBC would be airing a new animated serial of Watership Down based on the 1972 novel and the 1978 film. In April 2016, it was announced that the series would be a co-production between BBC and Netflix, and would consist of four one hour episodes. The series has a budget of £20 million. The rest of the voice cast was announced in November 2018.

Release

Originally set for release on 25 December 2018, Watership Down was released on 22 December 2018, on BBC One in the UK and on 23 December 2018 on Netflix, internationally.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions)
1	"The Journey"	Noam Murro	Tom Bidwell	22 December 2018 (2018-12-22)	4.64
A young rabbit named Fiver has a vision of machines coming to destroy the warren where he lives with his elder brother Hazel. Despite being unable to convince the Chief Rabbit to evacuate the warren, Hazel and Fiver convince five of the rabbits, all of them bucks named Dandelion, Blackberry, Hawkbit, Bluebell, and Bigwig, to leave. The seven rabbits narrowly escape from their warren’s Owsla, led by Captain Holly, by crossing a river and head into the wild countryside. Over the next few days, the group encounter several hazards on their journey, including fighting off a flock of crows and seeking shelter during savage rainstorms. A strange rabbit named Cowslip visits the group, offering to let them stay in his warren. Although it is full of well-fed rabbits, morale and numbers are strangely low. Bigwig is caught by a snare and starts to suffocate. Cowslip reveals that those snared are given to a farmer in exchange for food and protection. The rabbits manage to free Bigwig and leave, with a doe named Strawberry joining them. They settle in a new warren on a wooded slope, naming it Watership Down. They soon are joined up with Captain Holly, who reveals to the group that their warren at Sandleford was destroyed and that Fiver’s predictions had indeed come true.
2	"The Raid"	Noam Murro	Tom Bidwell	22 December 2018 (2018-12-22)	4.64
Captain Holly recounts how he was the sole survivor of the destruction of the Sandleford warren and of his travels to find the group. Kehaar, a seagull with an injured wing, crashes in front of the group, and Hazel befriends the bird in order to ask him to look for does. He flies off and returns with word of a nearby warren called Efrafa which is said to be overrun with many does. While traveling to Efrafa, Holly, Blackberry, and Bluebell are stopped by a patrol of rabbit soldiers from the warren and brought before its leader, General Woundwort, where they are marked and imprisoned. The following night, Holly's group stages a breakout with the assistance of an Efrafan doe named Hyzenthlay and they barely manage to escape with their lives. Meanwhile, Hazel, accompanied by Fiver and Bigwig, travel to a small farm nearby called Nuthanger Farm to find does. There, they discover a hutch containing four hutch rabbits, all of them does named Clover, Boxwood, Haystack, and Laurel. Before Hazel and Fiver can free them, they are attacked and chased off by the farm cat. Two nights later, Hazel, Fiver, and Bigwig return to the farm and free the does from their hutch, but are soon discovered by the farm cat who alerts the farmer’s wife. During the rabbits’ desperate attempt to escape, two of the does, Boxwood and Laurel are recaptured by the farmer’s wife, while the farmer pursues the remaining five rabbits with a shotgun. But while Fiver, Bigwig, Haystack, and Clover manage to escape, Hazel is shot in the leg and collapses into a storm drain. In a state of limbo, Hazel is visited by the Black Rabbit of Inlé, the Lapine, and she assures him his time has not yet come.
3	"The Escape"	Noam Murro	Tom Bidwell	23 December 2018 (2018-12-23)	5.65
Clover and Bigwig search for Hazel and eventually find him in a storm drain, but while Bigwig helps Hazel return to Watership Down, Clover is captured and taken by a patrol of rabbits from Efrafa. After hearing Captain Holly's report of the conditions at Efrafa, Hazel hatches a plan to infiltrate Efrafa and save the imprisoned does. Leaving Captain Holly, Strawberry, and Haystack back at Watership Down, Hazel leads the rest of the rabbits on a daring rescue mission to Efrafa. Bigwig infiltrates the warren as a wandering rabbit and is recruited into the Owsla by General Woundwort. He finds Clover there, along with a number of frightened does and a beaten buck named Blackavar who are beaten and abused by the warren's Owsla. After earning the trust of Hyzenthlay, the leader of the Efrafan does who had previously helped Captain Holly, Bluebell, and Blackberry escape from Efrafa, Bigwig attempts an escape from the warren alongside them, but the plan is foiled when Kehaar fails to lead them to safety and they are caught. Hyzenthlay is accused of the escape plan and sentenced to execution. Bigwig is ordered to act as executioner in order to prove his loyalty to Efrafa. He declines and instead retaliates, fighting off the soldiers with the aid of Blackavar and helping Clover, Hyzenthlay, and several does escape from the warren. Bigwig, Clover, Blackavar, Hyzenthlay, and the escaped Efrafran does reunite with Hazel's group, but before they can make their way down to the river to safety, they are surrounded by the Efrafan Owsla and General Woundwort challenges Bigwig to a fight to the death.
4	"The Siege"	Noam Murro	Tom Bidwell	23 December 2018 (2018-12-23)	6.78
Before General Woundwort can attack Bigwig and the Efrafans recapture the escapees, Kehaar comes to their rescue and fights off the Efrafans. The rabbits hide in a nearby human village, thank Kehaar for his bravery the next morning before he leaves them, and travel downriver to throw the Efrafans off their scent. The group returns to Watership Down, reunite with Captain Holly, Strawberry, and Haystack, and settle down into their new life. But after several days of peace and quiet, they encounter an Efrafan scouting party. Hazel meets up with General Woundwort and tries to offer terms of peace, but the General declines and threatens to kill every buck in the warren if they do not return Blackavar and the does to them. Watership Down prepares for war and is soon under siege by the Efrafans. Though Hazel's group fight bravely, several rabbits are badly wounded and Captain Holly is killed while trying to protect Hyzenthlay. The following morning, Fiver receives a vision of a dog running loose and attacking the Efrafans. Remembering the dog they had seen in Nuthanger Farm while breaking the hutch rabbits Clover and Haystack out, Hazel leaves for Nuthanger Farm with Fiver and Blackavar. Bigwig fights General Woundwort when he finally breaks into the warren, both rabbits sustaining critical injuries to each other in the fight. Though they manage to free the farmer's dog from his rope, Fiver is captured by the farm cat and Hazel abandons him to lure the dog to the warren. With Blackavar's help, Hazel leads the dog to his warren, who attacks the Efrafans and kills one of the soldiers. The dog and a wounded General Woundwort lunge at each other, leaving Woundwort's fate unknown. Fiver, having been rescued from the farm cat by the farmer's young daughter Lucy, is released back into the wild and soon reunites with Hazel and the rest of the rabbits. The warren at Watership Down prospers in the years that follow.

Reception

Watership Down received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the narrative, performances of its voice cast and soundtrack, but receiving some criticism for its somewhat tamer tone and the quality of the computer animation, described as "soulless" and "clunky". On Rotten Tomatoes, the drama has an approval rating of 74% based on reviews from 23 critics, with its critical consensus reading "Though its animation leaves something to be desired, Watership Down is a faithful adaptation that will resonate with viewers of any age." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on five critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

The Guardian and The Independent both gave it two stars out of five, calling the production "tame, drab and deeply unsatisfying." and "spectacularly ho-hum – less tooth and claw than head shake."

The Times was more positive, giving it three stars out of five, writing "this was a meaty, lovingly made production that, spread over two days, felt far too long," while The New York Times noted that though the adaptation "fails its potential, it benefits from strong voice performances and a solid central story. Even this easy-listening version, which lays on the romance, jokes and limp dialogue, has moments of grandeur and the sweep of a fantasy epic." Despite the negative reviews, it got four stars from the Daily Telegraph, which said that it had an "emotional bite".

The drama won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program. It also got nominated for a Daytime creative arts Emmy awards for outstanding directing, sound editing, sound mixing, graphic design and music direction.

External links

• Watership Down at BBC Online
• Watership Down on Netflix
• Watership Down at IMDb