Top actors and TV personalities showed their support for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad last night as the Tate Movie Project’s ‘The Itch of the Golden Nit’ premiered in Leicester Square.

The 13 children who drew the lead characters joined the likes of Craig Revel-Horwood, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Andy Akinwolere on the red carpet.

The film is made up of thousands of drawings, sound effects and story ideas by young people from across the UK as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

The story follows 11-year-old hero Beanie on his mission to save his parents from Evil Stella and to return the Golden Nit to its rightful place at the heart of the sun, thereby saving the universe.

Comedians David Walliams, Miranda Hart and Catherine Tate lead the cast, providing the voices for the half-hour animation.

Funded by Legacy Trust UK and BP, with additional support and resources from the BBC, the film has been brought together by Tate and Aardman Animations.

Director of the Cultural Olympiad Ruth Mackenzie said: ‘The success of the Tate Movie Project is phenomenal; thousands of young people across the UK have been developing skills through animation workshops and digitally through the website. The announcement of this wonderful cast and story is thrilling – congratulations to everyone’.

‘The Itch of the Golden Nit’ recently won Best Content Partnership Award at the Broadcast Digital Awards and will be broadcast on BBC2 at 9am on Saturday 2 July. It will also be shown at a BP-supported Open Weekend event on 23 July in Trafalgar Square, as well as on Live Sites in cities across the UK.

An exhibition about the project with free screenings of the film opens at Tate Modern on 6 July and will run until the end of August.

Incoming search terms:

• andy akinwolere olympics
• Olympic torch relay for the BBC Andy Akinwolere
• revel horwood olympic
• what is craig-revel horwoods plans for 2012