It is almost possible to hear the rustle of Rizlas. The actor who will play Dylan, the rabbit believed by generations of students to be perpetually stoned, in the Magic Roundabout film has just been announced.

Bill Nighy will be the big-screen voice of the Magic Roundabout character who, more than any other, prompted endless late-night, student-flat conversations on marijuana references inherent in children's television of the 60s and 70s. Nighy, who recently starred in Love Actually and I Capture the Castle, will give life, though presumably not too much, to the laconic guitar-playing rabbit who spends much of his time asleep.

The 54-year-old actor joins stars such as Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams and Joanna Lumley in the film, scheduled for release next spring.

The Magic Roundabout was created for French television by Serge Danot in the mid-60s, but it was the supposedly drug-laden references in the script used on this side of the channel that propelled it to fame and affection.

Voices for the original British version were provided by Eric Thompson, the late father of the Oscar-winning actor Emma Thompson. But the big-screen version is expected to be a far grander - and more populous - affair.

Williams will play Dougal, the shaggy dog with a predilection for sugar lumps, which may or may not contain LSD. Minogue plays Florence, the girl with the blue ribbon who is never far from his side. Zebedee, the spring-propelled creature with the "time for bed" catchphrase, will be played by Richard O'Brien, the creator of the Rocky Horror Show. Jim Broadbent will perhaps find his Shakespearean experience superfluous for his role as Brian the snail.

The "mad bovine fool" that is Ermintrude, the pink cow, will be played by Joanna Lumley.

New characters will also be created. The new Magic Roundabout movie - the first, Dougal and the Blue Cat was released in 1972 - will be directed by Dave Borthwick of the Bristol-based animation studios bolexbrothers.

The distributor, Pathé, hopes it will enjoy similar success to Chicken Run, which earned £30m at the UK box office, making it the highest grossing British animation of all time.

The Magic Roundabout ran from 1965 to 1977 on BBC1 and was revived by Channel 4 in the 90s, when all the voices were provided by Nigel Planer.

The myths and facts ...

· Created by French animator Serge Danot and English colleague Ivor Wood, Le Manège Enchanté was first broadcast in France in 1964

· Magic Roundabout aired in the UK on October 18 1965. Showing daily before the 5.55pm news, it attracted 8 million viewers at its peak

· Characters inspired urban myth that each was code for an illegal drug: Zebedee was linked with amphetamines, as was Brian the snail; Dylan seemed always stoned; Ermintrude munched on colourful flowers; while Dougal was linked to LSD, due to his diet of sugar and paranoia - the shaggy dog was modelled on comic Tony Hancock

· Show ran on BBC for seven series until 1977. It has been translated into 28 languages. Dougal and the Blue Cat film was released in 1972, while undiscovered French episodes aired on Channel 4 from 1992

· The Magic Roundabout is the name of a nihilistic 60s European art movement and a multi-mini-roundabout traffic system in Swindon.
Sally James Gregory