U.K-based animation studio Factory is best known for producing series such as Clangers, Scream Street, Newzoids and Norman Picklestripes. This month, along with Leopard Pictures, the studio offers a new 2D-animated adaptation of Sir Michael Morpurgo’s children’s book Mimi and the Mountain Dragon. The holiday tale centres on a young girl who discovers a baby dragon in a woodshed and decides to reunite the baby with her fearsome mother, who lives in her castle lair in the mountains.

Factory’s managing director Phil Chalk says he was on board with the project the minute co-exec producer Kristian Smith of Leopard Pictures showed him a treatment of the 25-minute special.

“As soon as Kristian outlined his vision for the project and the potential collaborators, I was hooked,” says Chalk. “We both vowed from that day to try and make it happen!”

The special, which premieres on BBC One this month, will include a special introduction by Morpurgo himself, who also wrote the best-selling 1982 novel War Horse. The film is narrated through classical music in an original score written by Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman (The Little Prince, The Piano) and performed by the BBC Philharmonic, featuring singers from the Hallé’s family of choirs and recorded at MediaCityUK, Salford.

Mimi and the Mountain Dragon premieres on BBC One in the U.K. this Christmas.