It was adapted into a made-for-TV movie in 1989 by Thames Television which starred Jeremy Irons as William and Robbie Coltrane as Mr Victor Hazell.

William is also an excellent teller of bedtime stories, and among other things invents a version of The BFG to tell to Danny.

The owner of all the land surrounding Danny's home is Mr. Victor Hazell, an unpleasant but influential local nouveau riche beer magnate.

On the journey, Danny crosses paths with a police car, but manages to escape through a gap in a roadside hedge.

He sneaks through the woods and finds his father incapacitated by a broken ankle, having fallen into in a pit trap Hazell dug for poachers.

While William recovers from his injury, he and Danny realise Mr. Hazell's annual pheasant shoot is approaching - an event to which he invites aristocrats and county officials from across the district.

During the commotion, Mr. Hazell arrives in a sputtering rage, and confronts Danny, William and Doc Spencer, demanding they give his birds back.

Doc Spencer finds six pheasants dead from having taken an overdose, so he distributes two each to Sergeant Samways, Mrs. Clipstone, and William.

The book ends with a plea to the child who has just finished reading the story, that when they are grown up with children of their own, they be as “sparky” a parent to them as William was to Danny.

The book was adapted for the stage by actor and writer David Wood in 2004, commissioned by the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff.

William tells Danny a bedtime story sequence of a "Big Friendly Giant" who captures good dreams and blows them into children's bedrooms at night.