David Walliams to voice Pudsey

Comedian and writer David Walliams is to voice the character of Pudsey in the canine’s debut big screen outing, Pudsey: the Movie. The six-week shoot for the British family film began on Sept 1 on location in the south of England.

Directed by Nick Moore and written by Paul Rose, the film will also star Jessica Hynes, John Sessions, Luke Neal, Izzy Meikle-Smith and Luke Tittensor.

The story portrays Pudsey as a stray dog in London who meets siblings Molly, George and Tommy. Following her divorce, their mother Gail (Hynes) is moving the family to the sleepy village of Chuffington-on-Sea and Pudsey tags along, to the dismay of their landlord, Mr Thorne (Sessions) and his cat Faustus. As Pudsey starts to settle in with the family and realize what he was missing when he was alone, he stumbles across Thorne and Fautus’ evil plan and he determines to save them and the whole village.

Produced by Vertigo’s Rupert Preston and Marshall Levitan and executive produced by Allan Niblo, James Richardson, Jonathan Shalit, Mark Brittain, Ben Todd, Nigel Williams and Jamie Carmichael with co producer Michael Ford, the film is slated for release in the UK in May 2014 by Vertigo Distribution.

Content is selling international rights.

Walliams, a judge on Britain’s Got Talent when Pudsey won the competition, said: “I am thrilled to be providing the voice of Pudsey. I have been coming up with different voices for him ever since that first audition.”

Walliams is best known in the UK for writting and starring in comedy series Little Britain and Come Fly With Me but he has also made appearances in films including Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love and Steve Carell comedy Dinner For Schmucks.

The feature is produced by Vertigo Films and Syco Entertainment in association with Infinite Wisdom and Backwell Productions.