Aardman co-founder Peter Lord has revealed details about the plot of the new Wallace And Gromit film, which will be broadcast at Christmas 2024.
There are few franchises as universally beloved as Wallace And Gromit. What began as Nick Park’s student film project grew into two of Britain’s most iconic animated characters.
So far, the titular heroes have starred in four short films – A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers – which won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 1994 and features arguably the best train chase sequence ever put on screen – A Close Shave and A Matter Of Loaf And Death. There’s also the 2005 feature film The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, a series of even shorter films called Cracking Contraptions and a videogame, Wallace And Gromit: Project Zoo.
A new film has been in the works for a number of years, owing to the arduous production process of stop motion animation. Peter Sallis, who voiced Wallace from A Grand Day Out until A Matter Of Loaf And Death, passed away in 2017. Wallace is now voiced by Ben Whitehead.
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Appearing on BBC Radio Four’s Loose Ends, Aardman co-founder Peter Lord said that the new film “is set in Wallaceland, wherever that is, somewhere oop north, and there’s beautiful industrial buildings and miles of terraces and canals and all kinds of stuff. Wallace has gone completely bonkers, making machines for every conceivable purpose and he invents a robotic gnome, which is kind of perfect. A garden gnome but robotic”.
Lord also revealed an idea that was rejected for last year’s sequel Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget, saying “we toyed with an idea for a long time whereby Mrs Tweedy stopped farming chickens and started farming alligators to make handbags. That might be the sequel. Give me another 24 years and we’ll do that one”.
According to the British Comedy Guide, the new Wallace And Gromit film is expected to air on BBC One over Christmas, it will stream on Netflix worldwide. More as we get it.
