Stephen Fry joins cast of animated show Driftwood Bay

Fry is known as the host of TV's QI and as The Hobbit's Master of Laketown

Actors Stephen Fry, Peter Mullan and Jane Horrocks are to lend their voices to the characters in a new animated children's TV show.

Fry will voice an aristocratic deer called Lord Stag in Driftwood Bay.

The show, which will air on Nick Jr in the UK in May, is about a young girl who creates an imaginary world from treasures she finds on the beach.

Horrocks will play Wee Rabbit while Mullan, best known for hard-hitting dramas, will be Salty Dog the sailor.

Broadcaster, actor and presenter Fry is known as the host of BBC panel show QI and as The Hobbit's Master of Laketown while Mullan's credits include starring in TV drama Top of the Lake and the film Tyrannosaur.

Mullan said: "I've never done any voice work on animation so I thought this was a nice chance to do something that my children can actually see me in for a change!"

Driftwood Bay is to be made by Sixteen South, a Belfast-based children's TV production company.

Horrocks was the star of stage play and film Little Voice and recently appeared alongside Mullan in the film Sunshine on Leith.

The voice cast also includes Father Ted star Ardal O'Hanlon, Tameka Empson, who plays Kim Fox in EastEnders and Annette Crosbie, known for roles in TV shows like One Foot in the Grave and The Six Wives of Henry VIII.