Judith Kerr banished pizza from The Tiger Who Came To tea because it was too American
Nothing could be more quintessentially British than afternoon tea.
To keep it that way, the late Judith Kerr banished pizza from a new adaptation of The Tiger Who Came To Tea because it was too American.
The late author penned the book in 1968, and just before her death earlier this year was still guarding the legacy of the hugely popular children's classic.
Set during a traditional if surreal afternoon tea, Kerr made influences from across the Atlantic anathema, and the pizza slices planned for Channel 4’s Christmas retelling of the story were cut out.
It has been directed by Robin Shaw and scripted by Joanna Harrison, who said creator Kerr was heavily involved in the production before her death
“Joanna put pizza slices into the film,” explained Shaw, “and [Kerr] took it out.”
He added: “We were all committed to the very specifically English setting of the film.”
The minimal plot of the book will not be altered or added to in the Channel 4 adaptation, and its creator said Kerr was very happy with the rushes from the programme.
She did not live to see it completed and died at 95 in May of 2019, with her children’s work as popular as ever. It was invented as a bedtime story for her young daughter following a trip to the zoo.
The author’s family fled Germany in 1933 fearing the rise of the Nazi Party, but Kerr insisted there was no fabulist parallel between her gatecrashing tiger and usurping dictators.
She would later write When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit about, which did give a child’s view of the Second World War.
There is an all-star cast for the new animation about the vandalising feline arriving unexpectedly for refreshments, with David Walliams narrating the narrator, Tamsin Greig and Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the parents, David Oyelowo playing the eponymous tiger.
The new adaptation will air on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve.
