Hoho Entertainment and Wild Child Animation to co-develop feature film ‘Toad & Friends’

Toad & Friends

London’s Hoho Entertainment and Scotland’s animation studio Wild Child Animation will be co-developing a full-length film adaptation of the former’s CG animated series Toad & Friends (52×11’). 

The feature will be based on Kenneth Grahame’s classic British novel The Wind in the Willows, which has been published since 1908. The film will honour the legacy of the original novel whilst refreshing the characters and storyline to resonate with a modern audience. The characters, Toad, Mole, Badger and Ratty will be returning and will be joined once again by new female characters including fearless Hedge, scheming Tinker, diligent Heron, and the mischievous Adder

Toad & Friends is directed by Tim Searle (Danger Mouse, Dennis and Gnasher). It was developed and supported by the National Lottery through Screen Scotland and produced with the support of the Creative Media Programme, Media of the European Union.

Screen Scotland screen officer Sean Greenhorn commented, “It’s fantastic to be able to support Wild Child Animation to take a step into feature film development with this take on the timeless classic The Wind in the Willows. It’s great that they are doing this through expanding the incredibly popular Toad & Friends world and continuing their partnership with Hoho Entertainment.”

Producer, director and writer Robert Chandler is on board as consultant for the feature which will be penned by writing team The Black Sheep (Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Barnett-Jones), who were head writers on the TV series Toad & Friends.

Hoho Entertainment joint MD Oliver Ellis said, “The Wind in the Willows is a globally adored classic with over 85 million copies of the book sold in 29 languages. It may have its roots in the 20th century but as audiences for Toad & Friends have proved, its values of community, citizenship and kindness are as relevant today as they’ve ever been. We are delighted that Screen Scotland have given us this opportunity to bring their adventures to the big screen.”

Wild Child Animation CEO Sueann Rochester shared, “We are absolutely thrilled to continue our partnership with Hoho Entertainment to develop Toad & Friends into a feature film. This project offers a wonderful opportunity to revisit The Wind in the Willows and build on the strong vision we created for the TV series. Feature film production is a natural next step as the studio expands its creative scope, and we’re excited to leverage our team’s remarkable talent to adapt this cherished story and showcase what we can achieve in this format.”

Toad & Friends debuted on Warner Bros. Discovery’s Boomerang channel in the UK in summer 2024, and launched on Boomerang and Max in the US in early 2025. The series has recently been nominated for a coveted Broadcast Award for best children’s programme. In addition, Korean rights company Asiana Licensing has signed up for TV and licensing distribution rights in Korea.

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