Following a Bonfire Night treat in the form of November\u2019s Guy Forks<\/a> special, this festive season saw two more typically charming episodes go out: Twitchers (aired last night on BBC One and now available on iPlayer) and tonight\u2019s Calliope Jane, featuring a guest appearance from Bill Bailey as the owner of a travelling fair.<\/p>\n Crook, who made his directorial debut on the equally delightful Detectorists on BBC Four, writes and directs every episode in addition to playing the titular scarecrow and set out with the intention of the new Worzel Gummidge becoming \u201cevent television\u201d and something that audiences would revisit \u201cagain and again\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>If these episodes become some sort of staple, that would be amazing,\u201d he tells RadioTimes.com<\/a>. \u201cBecause I think that the BBC is a place where things like that can happen. Things become embedded in our consciousness and don\u2019t just drift away and are never seen again.\u201d<\/p>\n Certainly, it\u2019s easy to imagine the six existing episodes being trotted out every December or on a Bank Holiday Monday, like The Snowman or The Great Escape. But are repeat showings all the future holds for Worzel?<\/p>\n Crook says he \u201cloves\u201d playing the misfit mannequin, so much so that he\u2019s willing to endure hours in the make-up chair and long shooting days \u201ccaked in silicone\u201d. \u201cIt got really difficult, because before Worzel, I was doing [Sky series] Britannia and I directed a couple of episodes of that last year as well, and in that I\u2019m in full prosthetics as well,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe days when I wasn\u2019t in prosthetics on Worzel Gummidge \u2013 I think there were 12 days throughout the nine-week shoot \u2013 those days were glorious. They were luxuries.\u201d<\/span><\/p> But while he\u2019s not looking to leave Scatterbrook behind just yet, Crook has revealed that logistics could end up putting Worzel Gummidge on hiatus \u2013 at least for the foreseeable future. \u201cI\u2019ve got a busy year next year \u2013 I\u2019m in the West End from April onwards and I don\u2019t know when I\u2019d get a chance to do any next year,\u201d he said, referring to a new run of Jez Butterworth\u2019s Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre which will see Crook reprise his role of Ginger opposite Mark Rylance as Johnny \u2018Rooster\u2019 Byron.<\/span><\/p>\n But that\u2019s not the only potential obstacle \u2013 were the series to return to filming 2023, Crook says that he\u2019s unsure if his young co-stars India Brown and Thierry Wickens would still be able to play Worzel\u2019s young human friends Susan and John. \u201cThe year after, will Thierry and India be too old to be playing those roles, and should I swap them out? There\u2019s lots of questions to be answered.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He already inserted a nod to Wickens having clearly grown between shoots into the script for Guy Forks. \u201cHave you shrunk?\u201d Worzel asks John, who is now clearly quite a bit taller and older than he was in The Scarecrow of Scatterbrook.<\/p>\n \u201cI wrote that into the script before I\u2019d seen what had happened to him, just sort of assuming that he would\u2019ve shot up,\u201d Crook explains. \u201cAnd indeed, he had \u2013 so I wanted to just acknowledge that in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n The best case scenario for Worzel Gummidge right now is, it seems, something of a hiatus. Fingers crossed this isn\u2019t the end for the series \u2013 there\u2019s nothing else on TV quite as warm and good-hearted as Worzel\u2019s adventures \u2013 but if it is, Crook says he\u2019s\u00a0\u201creally happy\u201d with the six films that already exit.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it sits as a really nice body of work. But I\u2019m not going to rule out making more.\u00a0 Because I love playing him. I really do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n All six episodes of Worzel Gummidge are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer. Read more about the Worzel Gummidge cast<\/a> and where Worzel Gummidge is filmed<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Visit our Drama<\/a> hub for more news, interviews and features, or find something to watch tonight with our TV Guide<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Morgan Jeffery Published: Wednesday, 29 December 2021 at 12:00 am Though it only aired its first outing \u2013 The Scarecrow of Scatterbrook \u2013 back in 2019, Mackenzie Crook\u2019s adaptation of Worzel Gummidge (based, like the Jon Pertwee-starring series that came before it, on the books by Barbara Euphan Todd) already feels like a staple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":9341,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/have-we-seen-the-last-of-worzel-gummidge.jpg",2000,1334,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/have-we-seen-the-last-of-worzel-gummidge-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/have-we-seen-the-last-of-worzel-gummidge-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/have-we-seen-the-last-of-worzel-gummidge-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/have-we-seen-the-last-of-worzel-gummidge-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/have-we-seen-the-last-of-worzel-gummidge-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/have-we-seen-the-last-of-worzel-gummidge.jpg",2000,1334,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Morgan Jeffery Published: Wednesday, 29 December 2021 at 12:00 am Though it only aired its first outing \u2013 The Scarecrow of Scatterbrook \u2013 back in 2019, Mackenzie Crook\u2019s adaptation of Worzel Gummidge (based, like the Jon Pertwee-starring series that came before it, on the books by Barbara Euphan Todd) already feels like a staple…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/9340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Worzel\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/worzel-gummidge-1-0f7f398.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"Guy\\"\/")
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