TV

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse: How Charlie Mackesy created the heroes we need right now

Charlie Mackesy could never have predicted he'd come up with a publishing sensation and highlight of the BBC's Christmas schedule

The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and The Horse

Charlie Mackesy’s illustrated book struck a chord with millions as the world shut down. Now it’s been adapted as an animated film

The story starts with being lost. “I’m lost,” said the boy to the mole. An unlikely inter-species friendship is formed and a journey begins. The star of this year’s Christmas schedules is the animated adaption of Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. After posting drawings alongside heartfelt and heartening messages on social media, a book following the adventures of the boy and the other animals he meets became a phenomenon.

Published in 2019, it spent 100 weeks in the Top 10 of the UK bestsellers list. The timing was serendipitous. Many of those 100 weeks spanned a period where a reminder of the essentials in life – love, kindness, fortitude, self-acceptance – was the comfort and consolation people in lockdown longed for.

“It really does feel like a lifetime ago,” Charlie Mackesy says, comparing pre- and post-pandemic eras. “The whole world is different. The ground is shaking beneath our feet on so many levels. We’re in strange times for sure.”

Times are getting stranger by the day, which is why the animated version of the story is perfectly scheduled to provide calm and solace, no matter how hectic your Christmas – or 2022 – has turned out.

Born in Northumberland, Mackesy was a cartoonist for The Spectator and an illustrator who has exhibited around the world, having collaborated on projects with Richard Curtis and Nelson Mandela. The self-described “grubby artist” explains how his most famous characters formed.

“I’ve always drawn animals and I’ve always drawn in that way. I remember having a chat with a friend about what courage looked like.”

That conversation led to a now famous drawing with these words. “‘What is the bravest thing you’ve ever said?’ asked the boy. ‘Help,’ said the horse.”

“I put that up on social media and I was staggered by the reaction to it,” Mackesy says. “I just pursued the relationships between the four and kept writing things that matter to me. That’s how it all began. All four characters are different bits of me. The fox takes time to trust. Then the mole is the bit of me that eats all the cake to make himself feel better. The horse, probably the wisest. The boy is always asking questions.”

The boy, mole, fox and horse are universally relatable. The fact that so many people connect to them is still a shock for Mackesy.

Charlie Mackesy and his dog, Barney
Charlie Mackesy with his dog, Barney. Photo Charlie Gray

“I didn’t set out to achieve this,” he says. “It’s hard for me to understand. All I feel is very grateful, surprised and moved by the responses from people all over the world.”

If someone had asked Mackesy to write a book about a boy and a mole, etc, he would have refused. Instead, he says, “It was an instinctual book that I made from somewhere deep within me. You’re not an artist to make money. You’re an artist because you feel you have something to say and it’s important for you to say it.”

The work is vital for millions of people. Look under any of Charlie Mackesy’s posts on Facebook or Instagram and there are hundreds of messages. A quick scan shows recent replies from grieving parents, cancer patients and many more thanking the artist for, as one puts it, “turning chaos into something manageable just through words and pictures”.

Softly spoken and sensitive, Mackesy has created a beacon of hope for many, but the light comes from a dark place.

“A lot of people do say to me, ‘Charlie, read your book’. I struggle, like anybody else,” he admits.

“Maybe in all the spinning and fear it reminds us what does matter. And what doesn’t. The importance of friendship, and connection and vulnerability.

“What’s helped me most is the response and my conversations with them. It’s so heartening. I’ve had so many emails in the last two and a half years. I’ve had a lot saying, ‘I’ve always been frightened of asking for help [because] that looked like weakness’. So that’s very moving to me, that a little thought could catalyse someone’s journey to a better life.

“I’ll find myself suddenly thinking about something that’s been said in the book, and I kind of go, ‘Oh, yeah, how we react to things is one of our greatest freedoms’. Yes, I do hear the voices in my head sometimes.

With the film adaptation, the characters that have been alive in his head have now really come to life. Seeing this happen over the two years it’s taken to make the film has been “quite surreal”.

As is fitting for the BBC’s highest profile Christmas serving, there’s a glittering cast. Alongside newcomer Jude Coward Nicoll as the Boy, and Gabriel Byrne as the Horse are Tom Hollander as the Mole and Idris Elba as the Fox. They both got involved because they are fans, and had learned from Mackesy’s work.

Hollander recalls one of the drawings: ‘What do you think is the biggest waste of time?’ ‘Comparing yourselves to others,’ said the Mole.

“That leapt out at me when I read it because I’ve personally found it to be a chronic problem in my life,” Hollander says. “People have tried to persuade me to stop doing that to myself because it’s the source of a lot of pointless unhappiness, so we must stop!”

Idris Elba says, “This definitely feels like a story for all ages. With adults it resonates on a deeper level. It reminds you about the important things in life, it’s like a level setting and a return to the core of what makes us human.”

While the original book is simply a collection of conversations, the film introduces a narrative.

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse

“The film needed a reason, what are they actually doing?” Mackesy says. “So early on when the mole meets the boy, the boy says, ‘I’m lost’. Then the mole enters the journey to try to find the boy a home.

“Home is a big word. It’s so central to us as humans, and I think the boy’s realisation is that home isn’t necessarily a place – that it’s found within himself and with friendships.

“It is not having a place to lay your head or call home physically. He didn’t have that but he also didn’t have a home relationally either. He didn’t feel accepted within himself or by others.”

This is ultimately the way for people feeling lost to be found.

“If people really knew what we were like, if we all realise we all struggle with things, the most important thing is for us to communicate and accept each other and ourselves,” Mackesy says.

“Connection comes when we dare say the truth to ourselves and someone else goes, me too.”

The best books of 2022

On Christmas Eve The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is on BBC One at 4.55pm and a documentary, Charlie Mackesy: The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse and Me, is on BBC Two at 3.55pm. Both will also be on BBC iPlayer.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: The Animated Story

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: The Animated Story by Charlie Mackesy is out now (Ebury Press, £20). You can buy it from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.To support our work buy a copy! If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue today or give a gift subscription to a friend or family member. You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play.

Support the Big Issue

For over 30 years, the Big Issue has been committed to ending poverty in the UK. In 2024, our work is needed more than ever. Find out how you can support the Big Issue today.
Vendor martin Hawes

Recommended for you

View all
Ralf Little on leaving Death in Paradise, his replacement and taking on Jeremy Hunt
Ralf Little
Exclusive

Ralf Little on leaving Death in Paradise, his replacement and taking on Jeremy Hunt

Mary & George's Tony Curran on playing pacifist, pleasure-seeking King James
Tony Curran as King James I
TV

Mary & George's Tony Curran on playing pacifist, pleasure-seeking King James

John Malkovich on fashion, hope and why beauty is mandatory for the survival of the species
TV

John Malkovich on fashion, hope and why beauty is mandatory for the survival of the species

Filmmaker Adam Curtis on epic new BBC drama The Way – and how the power of TV is shaking up Britain
Callum Scott Howells in The Way
TV

Filmmaker Adam Curtis on epic new BBC drama The Way – and how the power of TV is shaking up Britain

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Here's when UK households to start receiving last cost of living payments

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know