Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot

Retired bachelor Mr. Hoppy is hopelessly in love with his neighbor Mrs. Silver, but she is only interested in her pet tortoise Alfie, until Mr. Hoppy hatches an audacious plan to win her love.

Synopsis

This one off special for the BBC starring Dame Judy Dench and Dustin Hoffman was a labour of love for DNEGTV.

The film centres around the relationship between Mr Hoppy (Dustin Hoffman) and Mrs Silver (Dame Judy) and her tortoise Alfie who live in a block of flats with balconies that overlook one another. Given the vagaries of the British climate a decision was made to film most of the exteriors on set at Pinewood, with a build of a section of the flats and several hero balconies. Although an extensive translight was produced to allow shots directly out from the balconies to be done in camera, many angles meant a full CG extension of the flats and cityscape beyond was necessary.