Mark Williams is one of those naturally loveable characters. We know him from multiple amusing roles in the Fast Show, from Harry Potter and as the amiable clerical sleuth Father Brown.

You certainly wouldn’t expect to see him playing a serial killer, psychopath or cad. So he is very well suited indeed to star as the titular physician in Doctor Dolittle the Musical.

This gentle, mild-mannered production, on all week at the New Theatre Oxford, pays homage to the sweet altruism of Hugh Lofting’s book and to the 1967 classic film starring Rex Harrison (even down to Rex’s spoken ‘singing’).

There’s little in the way of bombast and it is squarely aimed at families with children – though the groups of adults sat around me when I saw it also absolutely loved it. And so they should, because this is a wonderful show, well staged, delightfully silly in that daft pantomime tradition, and with plenty to hold the attention.

An exercise in pure fantasy, it sees our understated hero learning to speak to the animals in their own dialects under the instruction of his 200 year-old parrot Polynesia.

His passion for nature draws him into conflict with the landed gentry, namely lady of the manor Lady Bellowes (a deliciously nasty Adele Anderson) – who shares none of the avuncular doctor’s love for our fury friends, being master of the local fox hunt whose members are waging carnage on the local wildlife.

A misunderstanding over the release of a lovelorn seal into the Bristol Channel lands Dolittle in court, and guess who the local magistrate is? Yes, Lady Bellowes.

In his fight against hunting, his advocacy of animal rights, vegetarianism and battle against the vested interests of the aristocratic ruling class, the doctor comes across as a refreshingly modern, enlightened figure – in keeping with the politics at the heart of Great War veteran Hugh Lofting’s original tale.

However, a mysterious message leads him and his friends – the plucky Mollie Melia-Redgrave (Emma Fairfax) and unfeasibly, relentlessly chirpy Irish lad Matthew Mugg (Patrick Sullivan) to set sail on an epic adventure ­– the eye-popping result of which is well worth the ticket price (no spoilers here).

The real stars here, of course, are the puppeteers – including Coronation Street star Vicky Entwistle’s brassy northern parrot Polynesia. If you’ve seen War Horse you’ll be familiar with the technique. A leaping sabre tooth tiger and ferocious bear are particularly impressive not to mention a dancing double-headed lama – or 'Pushmi-Pullyu'.

Sadly Oxford is the last stop for this show which really does deserve to be a hit. Suspend your cynicism, allow yourself to be charmed and just enjoy the surreal ride. It’s a real delight. 4/5

  • Doctor Dolittle the Musical is at the New Theatre Oxford until Saturday. Go to atgtickets.com