CBeebies’ most popular Bedtime Stories reader Tom Hardy is making a triumphant return to the series with six new episodes.
The Venom actor and father-of-three will be back on our screens from 5 July with a bedtime book celebrating the 75th anniversary of the National Health Service.
For his first episode back, Tom will be reading Zog and the Flying Doctors by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.
The story follows Princess Pearl, Sir Gadabout and their trusty ‘air ambulance’, Zog the dragon as they fly around and tend a sunburnt mermaid, a distressed unicorn and a sneezy lion.
Tom, who has been a huge hit with CBeebies viewers ever since he first appeared on the network back on New Year’s Eve 2016, recorded each new installment form the comfort of his garden where he was also accompanied by his adorable French bulldog, Blue.
Since making his Bedtime Stories debut, Tom’s episodes have been streamed more than two million times on BBC iPlayer.
In April 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, the Hollywood actor read a new story every day for a whole week in a bid to make lockdown a little bit easier for parents and children.
Dubbed “Tom Week”, his stories had themes of long-distance friendship, problems shared, and courage in overcoming seemingly impossible challenges.
At the end of 2021, Tom also settled the nations kids down over the Christmas period with two special episodes.
CBeebies Bedtime Stories has welcomed a whole slew of famous faces over the years.
Spice Girl Melanie C, Christine and the Queens, Ryan Reynolds, and Melissa McCarthy are among the celebrities to have joined the series in recent weeks.
CBeebies Bedtime Story is on each weekday at 6.50pm on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer.