Gillian Anderson and Richard E Grant lead cast of Aardman's Netflix musical, Robin Robin

Exclusive: Anderson will purr as villainous Cat in the British studio's first collaboration with the streaming service

Gillian Anderson and Richard E Grant will lead the cast of Aardman's first collaboration with Netflix, Robin Robin, the Guardian can reveal. The feature-length tale of a robin who is adopted by a family of mice after its egg rolls into a rubbish dump will be the British animation studio's first musical, and marks a departure from its longstanding relationship with the BBC. Previous Aardman hits include Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Flushed Away.

Anderson will voice the villain of the piece - Cat - while Grant will play Robin's mentor, Magpie. Both will also provide their dulcet tones for their characters' songs.