Lenny Henry and Kit Harington among the voices of BBC1’s Christmas animation Zog

They are joined by Tracey Ullman and Hugh Skinner in the adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s story about a hapless young dragon called Zog and his unlikely friendship with a young girl.

Lenny Henry will narrate the story, while Harrington, best known as Game of Thrones' Jon Snow, plays a very different fighting force in the form of the Knight Sir Gadabout.

Tracey Ullman is Madame Dragon while W1A star Skinner plays Zog himself.

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Sir Lenny Henry said, "It's wonderful to have voiced the narrator in Zog for this Christmas. The story has a lovely lyricism to it and it's been really good fun seeing the beautiful animation come together. There's a cast of brilliant actors and the story is silly, and outrageous, and surreal, and I like all of those things."

A total of 6 million viewers watched The Highway Rat last Christmas, drawn to the story of the rodent who terrorises his fellow animals into handing everything they have over to him before, eventually, getting his comeuppance. It was narrated by David Tennant.

Zog was first published in 2010 and has sold more than 1.5 million copies as well as winning the Galaxy National Children’s Book of the Year Award.

It is being produced by Magic Light, responsible for other BBC Christmas animations including Room on the Broom, Stick Man, The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child as well as The Highway Rat.

Michael Rose, co-founder of Magic Light Pictures said, “We love making films for the whole family to watch together at Christmas, and Zog is a treat – a wonderful witty story with delightful characters at its heart.”

Zog will air on BBC1 this Christmas