The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends has always been a favourite of mine, and The Tailor of Gloucester is one of the best from it and something that I watch without fail every Christmas. As you'd expect from the series the live-action introduction is charming and sets up the story wonderfully. Niamh Cusack as ever is faultless as Beatrix Potter. But when it turns to the animation that takes up the rest of the duration, that's when The Tailor of Gloucester comes to life even more. The animation itself is wonderful, so quaint and colourful as well as having the feeling of Beatrix Potter's illustrations come alive from the page. I always in particular found the mice passageways fascinating to watch even as a child. The music fits just as effectively, the use of Christmas carols(and nursery rhymes, have to love those drunken rats) gives that Christmassy feel and the incidental music has real lyricism as well as that haunting pathos found with the use of Silent Falls the Winter Snow. The Tailor of Gloucester has a very simple but charming story, and the writing is remarkably true in detail and spirit to the story. I love the characters just as much, the tailor is memorable and the mice are cute and resourceful but my favourite was Simpkin, crafty and cantankerous but still engaging to the audience. Ian Holm voices emotively as the tailor, but for me it's the story and the animation that makes The Tailor of Gloucester as genuinely special as it is. All in all, timeless both in regard to Christmas and in general. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Review of The Tailor of Gloucester
