Claire Foy, Andrew Garfield and cast on The Magic Faraway Tree

Anyone who grew up on Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree novels will recognise the oddball charm of the new film adaptation. Thirteen-year-old Billie Gadsdon, who plays Fran, filmed on a Reading sound stage amid marshmallow trees, giant flying-saucer plants and Haribo strawberry beds.

“I did eat a few,” she confides, and the Land of Birthdays even saw her acting in the middle of a giant cake while rollerskating elves danced by. Simon Farnaby has written a modern-day script and the cast includes Nicola Coughlan, Jennifer Saunders, Simon Russell Beale and Nonso Anozie, with Claire Foy as the children’s mother, Polly, and Andrew Garfield as their father, Tim.

Foy, for whom this is a first children’s film, says, “People get so emotional about it!” and recalls listening to the audiobook with her 10-year-old. Garfield and Foy, reunited after co-starring in Breathe together nine years ago, praise the three child actors as “grounded, funny, joyful”.

faraway tree, enid blyton, claire foy, andrew garfield, simon farnaby, billie gadsdon, nicola coughlan, jennifer saunders, nonso anozie, reading