Julia Donaldson reveals the one change to The Scarecrow's Wedding she was reluctant to make – but had to

Julia Donaldson's stories are beloved across the world, and they are equally loved on the screen as they are on the page, thanks to the magical annual adaptations by Magic Light Pictures and the BBC.

Usually, they are staunchly accurate to the original text, but sometimes small things need to be tweaked to make it work on TV, as is the way with all book-to-screen adaptations.

For The Scarecrow's Wedding, there was quite a sizeable change made to one of the main plot points in the story of Betty O'Barley and Harry O'Hay's love story.

In the book, they are separated as Harry tries to find Betty the exact flowers she wants for her perfect wedding day, and while he's away, the rogue scarecrow, Reginald Rake, drops by the field to try and woo Betty.

He goes to extreme lengths to impress her, and one such attempt sees him smoke a cigar, get a cough and then start a fire, which is then put out by a returning Harry.

According to Ofcom rules, "the use of illegal drugs, the abuse of drugs, smoking, solvent abuse and the misuse of alcohol must not be featured in programmes made primarily for children unless there is strong editorial justification".

As a result, the story was tweaked so the fire is started by Reginald toasting marshmallows instead, ultimately resulting in the same outcome.

Speaking of the change, Donaldson said: "In the book, the fire is started by Reginald Rake through smoking. I thought that was really good because it shows him in a really bad light. He is a baddie and he is smoking and in the original book Betty says ‘smoking is bad for you’ and he gets a terrible cough and starts a fire so it shows how bad smoking is.

"But apparently in the world of children’s films you are not allowed to show anyone smoking. I personally think it would be better for children to come across smoking in a film or a book and then their parents can talk about it and say it is not a great thing, rather than see someone in a doorway."

When asked by Magic Light Pictures if she would be interested in changing the story so they could adapt it, Donaldson initially said no.

"I said ‘absolutely not' and then went home and went straight to the computer because by that stage we had the pictures and I knew Betty had a pink dress and Reginald had the white suit, so I thought he could start the fire by cooking something and then I thought of pink and white marshmallows," she explained.

"I wrote it and I think it works really well that way. I am sorry in a way to lose the smoking but I think marshmallows do work well.”

The Scarecrows' Wedding will air this Christmas on the BBC.

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