Winslett to voice natural history drama

Kate Winslet is to provide the voice of a lion in an ambitious new Babe-style BBC natural

history drama about a pride of lions.

Pride, a co-production with America’s A And E Network, will star Winslet as Suki, a rebellious young lioness, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Suki’s mother will have the voice of Helen Mirren while Sean Bean will speak for Dark, Suki’s suitor.

Pride will combine real animals with computer generated images and will follow the adventures of a real-life pride of African lions and their struggle to survive on the African plains.

Acclaimed natural history filmmaker John Downer is providing footage shot in Friday while Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, producers of The Muppets, is creating the animation.

“This genre is a competely new thing for television, in the manner of Babe, using real animals and animation techniques,” Downer is quoted as saying. “It’s more biologically accurate than The Lion King and the starting point is natural history.”