With fractious politics and the world so volatile, we might all – grown-ups and children alike – fancy an escape to snowy and peaceful Moominvalley.
Because this is a children’s story with a difference.
First created as a reaction to the horrors of the Second World War by a shy Finnish illustrator named Tove Jansson, the world of Moominvalley is a genuine phenomenon.
The tales, based on the Moomin family and their strange friends who stumble through life by being kind, have taken on lives of their own and the characters, which appeared in a newspaper cartoon series in the 1950s, 60s and 70s that was read by 20 million around the globe, are still ridiculously popular.
Sky One’s Moomin series, animated creatures pictured in Moominvalley, has an all star cast featuring Kate Winslet, Jennifer Saunders, and Alison Steadman
Kingsman actor Taron Egerton voices Moomintroll, pictured with his mother and father, and said as soon as he read the Moomin books he ‘found them enchanting’
Now Sky One has created an animated series with an all-star voice cast that will make the world fall in love with the hippo-like creatures all over again.
‘I’ve loved the Moomins since I was a child and found so much comfort in them,’ says Rosamund Pike, the Oscar-nominated actress who voices Moominmamma in the series.
‘There’s something so good and wholesome and happy-making about them.’
The hero of the stories is young Moomintroll, who craves adventure but also loves his home comforts in Moominvalley with his parents Moominmamma and Moominpappa.
Each episode sees the Moomins face a new challenge – from Moomintroll trying to make a wild dragon his pet to rains flooding the valley.
‘As soon as I read these books, I found them enchanting,’ says Kingsman actor Taron Egerton, who plays Moomintroll.
Oscar-nominated actress Rosamund Pike said she’s loved the Moomins, pictured in the animated Sky series, since she was a child ‘and found so much comfort in them’
Each episode shows the Moomins facing a new problem such as when Moomintroll, pictured, finds a real dragon and tries to make it his pet
‘It’s a seemingly simplistic world, but there are also grown-up stories within it, which makes it engaging for people of all ages.’
The A-list cast for the series, directed by Steve Box who won an Oscar in 2006 for the Wallace & Gromit film The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, also includes Kate Winslet as neurotic neighbour Mrs Fillyjonk, Jennifer Saunders as single mother Mymble, Matt Lucas as friendly creature Teety-Woo, and Alison Steadman as stage-loving rat Emma.
This showbiz glitz contrasts hugely to the world the Moomins were born into, as the war came to a bloody end in Finland.
Tove, the daughter of bohemian artists, was worried about her soldier brother Per as the family had not heard from him. He survived.
‘By the end of the war Tove, who was a commercial artist, had lost her desire to paint so started writing an escapist story called The Moomins And The Great Flood about a mother and her child who feared they’d lost the father of the family,’ says Tove’s niece Sophia Jansson, who was a consultant on the new show.
‘It was to take her mind off of the tragedies of war.’
The series, two of the Moomins pictured, is directed by Steve Box who won an Oscar in 2006 for the Wallace & Gromit film The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit
The Moomins, pictured the Sky animated characters, were first created by Finnish illustrator Tove Jansson after the Second World War
The book, published in 1945, was so successful that she wrote more, and then began the comic strip.
Since then there have been plays, films and TV shows, and lots of Moomin merchandise.
There’s a Moomin World theme park in Finland and Moomin Valley Park opened in Japan a few weeks ago.
‘We’re constantly surprised by how many people love these stories,’ says Sophia.
‘When this show was casting, we were amazed by how many big-name actors wanted to do it.’
For Rosamund, who has two young sons, part of the appeal was the way the stories acknowledge darkness in the world but remain comforting.
‘There’s a balance; everyone learns to deal with their fears and worries,’ she says.
‘We watch the Moomins cope magnificently with what’s put in front of them. There’s an innocence there too; I think there’s not a lot of stuff being made where innocence is a quality that’s valued.’
Moominvalley, Friday, 5.30pm and 6pm, Sky One.