The Snowman

The Snow­man is a 1982 British ani­mat­ed tele­vi­sion film and sym­phon­ic poem based on Ray­mond Brig­gs’s 1978 pic­ture book The Snow­man. It was direct­ed by Dianne Jack­son for Chan­nel 4. It was first shown on 26 Decem­ber 1982, and was an imme­di­ate success. 

It was nom­i­nat­ed for Best Ani­mat­ed Short Film at the 55th Acad­e­my Awards and won a BAFTA TV Award. The sto­ry is told through pic­tures, action and music, scored by Howard Blake. It has no words, with the excep­tion of the cen­tral song, “Walk­ing in the Air”. The orches­tral score was per­formed by the Sin­fo­nia of Lon­don and the song was per­formed by Peter Auty, a St Paul’s Cathe­dral choirboy.

To cel­e­brate the film’s 40th anniver­sary, in 2022 Mag­ic Star released an all new remas­ter of the album with an immer­sive Dol­by Atmos mix, approved by com­pos­er, Howard Blake.