The Crown legend explains what Paddington writer brought to “incredible” Enid Blyton adaptation

Over the past decade or so, Simon Farnaby has emerged as one of the most reliably brilliant screenwriters in the country. Not only has he had a major hand in the success of beloved sitcom Ghosts, he's also penned mega-hit family movies Paddington 2 and Wonka alongside Paul King, to name just a couple of his impressive accomplishments.

For his latest project, Farnaby has turned his attention to another popular children's book series, on this occasion updating Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree novels into a whimsical fantasy film set in the modern day.

A quite remarkable cast has been assembled for the picture – with Rebecca Ferguson, Andrew Garfield, Jessica Gunning and Lenny Henry just a handful of the huge names to feature – and ahead of release, one of the other big stars, Claire Foy, spoke exclusively with Radio Times about the project.

Asked about what had jumped out to her in Farnaby's adaptation, she pinpointed how well he had weaved his sense of humour into Blyton's classic tale.

"I think humour gets you such a long way, and I think that it was just funny from the off," she explained. "And I found the relationships of parent and child, and the common dynamic that we have now, a relief in a way.

"I felt like it wasn't portraying this perfect family. It wasn't saying this is the ideal situation. It was going: here are the things that we all struggle with, and we're going to put them in a film."

She added that "this is a sort of mad world to try and enter" and praised the manner in which Farnaby had made each of the various magical people who appear in the film "totally distinct".

"I just think he did such an incredible job," she continued. "He just is the funniest man!"

Nicola Coughlan – who plays a fairy called Silky in the film – agreed with Foy's assessment, adding that she had been "desperate" to get involved as soon as she found out that Farnaby was writing the script.

"Paddington 2 is one of the best films ever made," she said. "Also I love a comedy ensemble. I asked Ben [Gregor, director] if it was all going to be green screen of Silky, I was like, 'It'll be a very different filming experience if I'm just in a room on my own.' And he was like, no, no!

"But yeah, just the idea of creating that world and these people that really love where they are, but also get these children into huge amounts of danger all the time. I quite loved that!

Interestingly, neither Coughlan nor Foy had grown up with Blyton's novels, and the former reckoned that this might have actually been to her advantage on this occasion.

"It was kind of a good thing not knowing too much, because I think sometimes it's too intimidating," she explained.

"And also what childhood books mean to people. Like, it's lovely when you tell people you're involved in this movie, because if they read it as a kid, they light up, and it's like they become the child version of themselves again.

"And that's really special, but it's terrifying. So if I'd read that and thought, 'Oh God, I'm playing Silky', I might have been overwhelmed. So it was quite nice just to go into it fresh in a way."

Foy added: "I do totally see how having that read to you as a child, or reading it as a child... because there's a sort of element of it that's so fantastical and sort of trippy in a way, it's like everyone's interpretation of it will be slightly different.

"Like people saying to me what they imagined Moonface (Nonso Anozie) would look like, and then seeing what they've created in this film is like... it's such an interesting thing of like, the mixing of ideas and imagination."

The Magic Faraway Tree is released in UK cinemas on Friday 27 March.

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