Directed by Tom Harper and written by Ben Vanstone, the new film was screened at BAFTA this Monday. In the post-screening discussion, Harper and Vanstone explained that they tried to set their version apart from the series from the early 90s. This was because the previous series had been such a good adaptation of the original novels, that they felt they should create something entirely new.

The Borrowers has a great cast, who work together really well. Arrietty Clock is played by Aisling Loftus (Death of a Superhero, Page Eight) and she confidently portrays the young Borrower who wants to break away from her family. In particular, she gets the wide-eyed expression of wonderment at seeing the world of the ‘human beans’ spot on, and we really get a sense of how awesome everything must look to her. Her character helps to portray the underlying themes of growing up and independently exploring the world, although at a much more daunting pitch than for us humans.

Arrietty’s friendship with ‘human bean’ James is innocent and full of discovery. Played by Charlie Hiscock, James is the wonderfully loyal young boy who discovers the Borrowers’ home under his floorboards and tries to stop them from being discovered by anyone else.

Robert Sheehan, who played Nathan Young in Misfits, continues his bad-boy image here, sporting a red leather jacket and a witty tattoo on his neck saying “don’t sweat the small stuff”. He plays Spiller, a Borrower living in the underground village that must help Arrietty when her parents, played by Christopher Eccleston and Sharon Horgan, are captured by a crazy professor.

This professor is played by Stephen Fry, who fits into the part extremely well. During the Q & A session, the film’s writer, Ben Vanstone revealed that he did actually write the character with Fry in mind and luckily for us, he accepted. He plays the somewhat evil, definitely crazy, professor who specialises in ‘homo sapiens reductus’, or ‘little people’, and who is intent on proving their existence with the help of James’s grandmother, Mrs Driver (Victoria Wood).

This new adaptation of The Borrowers is packed with action and discovery, as it shows the amazing way that the little people have adapted to living in an over-sized world. The costumes and props were created with great attention to detail and made to look like the stiff fabric of doll’s clothes. At one point, it even looks as though Arrietty and her mother are wearing tiny pieces of curtain. There is one scene that sees the Borrowers fall into water, which had to be thickened by using a food thickening agent to make it appear the way that it must do to tiny creatures. Chairs in Arrietty’s home have been made out of the wire from champagne corks, and a candle provides them with light for days.

The film demonstrates an ingenious creativity – essential for creating the captivating, realistic atmosphere. Watching The Borrowers when it airs on Boxing Day, at 7:30pm on the BBC, is a great way to spend your post-Christmas food-coma.

However, it appears unlikely that latest incarnation of the Doctor, Matt Smith, will be cast in the lead role, despite his popularity with TV viewers. Yates has indicated that the film will not follow on from the current series, but will instead take a fresh approach to the Doctor Who concept.

Yates stated that “Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch.” The script is yet to be written, and Yates is working alongside the head of L.A.-based BBC Worldwide, Jane Tranter, in order to find a writer. They have also stated that they are going to spend at least two years putting together this feature-length venture  in order to ‘get it right’ – hardly surprising, considering the fanatical fanbase will probably want to exterminate the team if they get it wrong.

The Doctor Who series originally ran from 1963 to 1989, before being rebooted by Russell T. Davies in 2005, with Christopher Eccleston playing the Doctor, before handing the role to David Tennant later that year.

There have previously been two ‘Dr. Who’ feature films, in 1965 and 1966. These were both based on stories from the Doctor Who series, but confusingly didn’t feature the Doctor himself, but an eccentric inventor called Dr. Who (using the abbreviated form of the title) who was played by Hammer Horror stalwart Peter Cushing. There has only been one Doctor Who feature-length production, Doctor Who: The Movie, which was a straight-to-television film starring Paul McGann as the Doctor.

Despite the fact that this will be much more of a big-budget Hollywood production, Yates and Tranter are said to be keen to retain the ‘British sensibility’, which would no doubt be essential in attracting the type of cult following which the small-screen series has always been enjoyed. The pair have also worked together previously on a number of other BBC TV series’, such as The Way We Live Now and State of Play.

We’ll keep you posted!

With this mind, we take a look at other instances of the Doctor’s various incarnations making their way onto the big screen…

Last Friday saw release of 127 Hours, the latest film from award-winning director Danny Boyle. 127 Hours tells the extraordinary real-life story of mountain climber Aron Ralston (played by James Franco), who became trapped by a boulder in Utah for more than five days and was forced to go to extreme lengths in order to survive.

However, this British director already has a fair few critically acclaimed films to his name. Think you know your Sunshine from your Slumdog? Take our quiz to find out!

The movie is about an elite top-secret commando unit assembled by General Hawk (Dennis Quaid) to battle evil at every corner of the world. Evil comes in the shape of Destro, a corrupt arms dealer (Christopher Eccleston) whose aim is the overused cliché of ‘taking over the world’. The baddies intend doing this by using a nanotechnology-based weapon missile system to level choice locations all over the world to ground zero.

The story follows Duke (Channing Tatum) and his pal Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) who join the unit in a bid to help pursue Destro and his team of baddies from Egyptian deserts to ice-infested areas to scupper their plans for world domination.

Though it is action all the way, the movie makes a lame attempt to inject a romantic sub-plot into the story between Duke and Ana (Sienna Miller), who is on the payroll of the baddies. In better moments, one of the high points of the movie is when the Eiffel Tower is levelled to the ground by one of the missiles, something that would surely delight Irish soccer fans.

If meaningless storyline and all-out action gets you excited, then GI Joe is your baby. Though we’d recommend leaving your girlfriend at home – unless she gets kicks watching sexy males in tight costumes.