By Kelly-Anne Taylor

Published: Wednesday, 08 December 2021 at 12:00 am


The familial anecdotes celebrities reveal about Christmases past, must be one of the best things about the festive period. Dame Julie Walters, in conversation with Jane Garvey on The Radio Times Podcast, reflected on a turkey her family reared one year. However, as the day approached, her mother couldn’t muster the gall to kill it – which meant the turkey, befittingly named Turkey, became something of a watch dog for the next four years.

Ahead of the release of Channel 4’s family friendly animation, The Abominable Snow Baby (available on Christmas Day), Walters chats about creating the Terry Pratchett adaptation from her home. Walters plays 98-year-old Granny and unpicks how she got into character, how she perfected the sound of thinning vocal cords and recording from her home – she quips “I’ve played ancient people since I was in my 20s”.