You know how cheery 1978 cartoon Watership Down gave a generation of children of nightmares with its violent bunny Armageddon? Well, the trailer for the new Christmas BBC1 adaptation looks just as intense.

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Okay, we don't see a shot of a badger emerging from some bushes with blood dripping from its mouth, but the sneak peek of the two-part animation showcases some very dark imagery.

We see a group of small animal stranded on a dustpan lid in the middle of a river, a very evil-looking colony of bunnies in a thunderstorm plotting to wipe out a burrow, several rabbit-on-rabbit punches and one of the furry creatures almost flattened by a car.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

The BBC/Netflix co-production is set to follow Richard Adams’ book set in rural England, telling the story of a group of rabbits that escape their warren after Fiver, a seer, is haunted by visions foreseeing their home’s destruction.

But although this version of Watership Down is set to traumatise you all over again, it’ll do so with a stellar voice cast: you can expect to hear James McAvoy, Gemma Arterton, Rosamund Pike, Nicholas Hoult, Olivia Colman, John Boyega, Peter Capaldi, Mackenzie Crook and Taron Egerton.

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Watership Down will air as two feature-length episodes on BBC1 on Saturday 22 December and Sunday 23 December

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Authors

Thomas LingDigital editor, BBC Science Focus

Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.

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