Tiger takes tea with Lupus

London-based film and animation company Lupus Films has partnered with publisher HarperCollins Children’s Books to bring The Tiger Who Came to Tea to television.

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

The companies will develop Judith Kerr’s popular picture book, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, into a TV special using a hand-drawn animation style.

The Tiger Who Came to Tea has sold over five million copies since it was first published in 1968. Inspired by Kerr’s daughter, it tells the story of a young girl and her extraordinary teatime guest: a tiger who eats and drinks all the food and drink in her house.

The special will be produced by Lupus Films’ founders Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding, together with Ann-Janine Murtagh, Katie Fulford and Mia Jupp at HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Lupus Films has been behind animated adaptations of Ethel & Ernest, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and The Snowman & The Snowdog in recent years. The company was launched in 2002 by joint MDs Deakin and Fielding, who both previously ran animation at Channel 4.