A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman | Documentary

Your program's starting, Gromit. I know you've been looking forward to this one. Lost your chair, lad? Let me introduce the Relax-O-Matic. Are we sitting comfortably? Aardman Animations. No cheese, Gromit. For 40 years, they have filled the world with pure plasticine joy. Creating unforgettable moments. Every single frame is just full of stuff. In all honesty, I really do like the silliness of it. We don't like potatoes, we like meat. Goodness me, how are they going to do this? Good grief, it's you? We have to rip that off for The Simpsons. And characters we fell in love with. Weren't you the voice of a plasticine chicken? I don't want to be a pan! I remember kind of going, and it was the most bizarre audition. Let's go plundering! They sounded rather marvellous. I had this idea of an English guy who builds this rocket, and they have a cat. This is a story of how very big things can happen, one tiny move at a time. They changed the game entirely. We did it! The only thing you can say is that you feel proud of it. Welcome to the Aardman world, and look at it, isn't it lovely? Bristol, home of Banksy, Bananarama, and the inventor of the blanket. But most excitingly, it's the home of Aardman. You may not know the name, but one thing is certain, you will know their creations. In fact, it's hard to imagine life without them. What Aardman do so brilliantly is that they appeal to every generation, actually. So you'll very happily set march an Aardman movie with your kids. Hang in there, Robert! It's not only really, really fantastically executed, but it's proper comedy writing. I'm the pirate captain, and I'm here for your gold. Personally, I regard them as the people who kind of revolutionised animation worldwide. I think their impact can't be overstated. We're either die-free chickens, or die trying. I think Aardman is hated by all of us, because they're so damn successful, and so wonderful, and brilliant. Yes, I mean, sheer hatred, utter... It all began in the 1970s. David Sproxton and Peter Lord, two long-haired dreamers, had a crazy idea, to bring still images to life. I was always interested in photography. My father had a wind-up cine camera, and I said, why don't we get that out of the cupboard, and set it up, and just play around on the kitchen table? And we made a film, what was it called? Did we call it Trash? Was it that one? Godzilla. Godzilla, Godzilla was the first one. And we had chalk drawings. It was complete rubbish, really. But it was great fun. In 1972, they got their big break. Their kitchen table antics were going to be seen in living rooms across the country. We'd been making these very short films for Vision On, with a character we called Aardman. Aardman was like a superhero, but absolutely incompetent. So, simply, the Aard of Aardvark, and the Man of Superman, and they were very old-school drawn animation. But the BBC liked it, so they bought it. And they said, who should we make the check out to? And we then discussed all the options. Peter and Dave animation, Lord Spock's animation, you know. And we just, so we went for Aardman. Then something magical happened. A discovery that would change their lives forever. Plasticine. And in 1977, Aardman's first star was born. I love morph. Anything in plasticine used to make me very happy. There you go. Morph was an animated comedy sidekick for Tony Hart, because Tony Hart was a brilliant artist, but maybe not very funny. It was kind of groundbreaking as well, when you think of it. This little blob of plasticine that can become whatever it wants. But it also, I think, had a personality. I remember it very vividly as a child, but I would have had no concept of the fact that this was the start of a bold new era in British animation. I just really enjoyed it. I thought it was funny. It was the bit and take heart that you always look forward to. Sorry, Tony. Morph went on to have his very own series. He received a Blue Peter badge and made some new friends along the way. Well, I say friends. They have just a wonderful innocence about them. There's a little bit of slapstick comedy violence. There's a bit of magic. There's a bit of surrealism. But ultimately, it comes down to two cuckooing brothers, friends, wherever they are, just having a laugh. There's a lot of fun in slapstick. But the real fun is character-based, like when Chaz comes on wearing an outrageous tie. And Morph just laughs at him for like 30 seconds. And in the end, he pats him on the shoulder and thanks him. You know, thanks for giving me such a good laugh. Grand Morph's home movies I like very much when some old black and white film comes to light. And it allows us to play a playful homage to Charlie Chaplin. But then later in the same sequence, there's some footage of Morph as a baby. And what I love is Morph being embarrassed in front of his friends. He was a very sweet and contented baby, quite unlike Morph as he is today. I do own a Morph. And I made the mistake of showing it to one of my children about a year ago, who reduced Morph to really a sausage. Ten grand's worth, just gone. But luckily, Peter says he can reconstruct him in about 14 seconds. Morph has actually been around for 39 years, I guess, which is extraordinary. Please hold. Your call is currently being held in a queue. Phones may have changed a bit, but Aardman's longest running character is still making a smile today. And finally, a cheerful smile. And the funny thing is, he's always handmade like this every time. You know, when I think that when we started out, there was Dave and me, the studio was probably about as big as this little box we're in now. And we had the modelling clay and the 16mm camera and like three or four lights, you know. That was the whole company. It's just quite amazing how the whole business has sort of grown from him. He said you can come in when you like and get your meals. Yes. But he said there's no beds. I see. Right. Meanwhile, as Dave and Pete's plasticine empire started to grow, little did they know a young student from Preston had taken inspiration from their work and was about to embark on a fairly ambitious college project. I had this idea about an English guy who builds this rocket, and the joke was he builds it in the basement of his house. I was thinking he may have a pet, probably a cat. I started drawing a cat, but as soon as I started making the clay model, a dog just was easier to make. I'd animated some of the film before I did any dialogue at all. When it came to voices, Pete Salas was the first choice I had. I wrote to him and he agreed to do it for about 50 quid, I think. And I was really surprised that he didn't have a Yorkshire accent. Hello, Nick. Thank you for sending me the script. I wonder if this is how Wallace may sound like. Up until that point, Wallace has got quite a straight face. It's only when I started animating him talking, like, cheese, and the way he stretched his vowels, his face changes. Gromit, that's it, cheese. We'll go somewhere where there's cheese. I'd bitten off more than I could chew with Grandayy out. The script was about 20 pages long, and there was one paragraph that just said, there is now a sequence where Wallace and Gromit build a rocket. That paragraph took me a year and a half to film. Keen to meet his animation idols, Nick invited Dave and Pete to come and visit his college. He had a morph badge on his lapel. And I was thinking that is the bee's knees, you know, to actually have one of your characters on your lapel. I was impressed by that kind of thing. He was building the sets, making the puppets, doing the animation, just kind of doing everything, because that's how it used to be back in the day. I got very disillusioned at times and had absolutely no money at all. I was living in a grotty little bedsit in Cricklewood, but I had to fulfil this vision, this film I had in my head. We said to the film school, look, Nick's going to take forever to finish this, can we bring Nick's sets down and indeed his camera, and we'll help him finish it. Nick moved to Bristol and joined Aardman, and finally finished his first animation, A Grand Day Act. At the time when I did it, I didn't think this is going to make cinema history. But six years later, in 1989, when the phone went and he said, I've finished it. You know, I thought, oh, it's only taken him six years. The film not only launched Nick's career, but two of animation's greatest characters. Their own night at the proms, they've appeared on Stamps, they have a ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, they've met the Queen, and they even helped to save the Wensleydale dairy from closure. I think we're about to go up in the world, lad. It's not an obvious pitch, is it? Old bloke and a dog, er, do stuff. A dog, and a funny looking dog to boot, and this kind of suburban man. You think, oh, his life must be dull, but what Aardman do with him, he take him to the moon. Wallace and Gromit have got to be up there with Eric and Ernie. They're in love with each other, they need each other, and they both are just so irritated with each other. That's perfect. Sorry, Gromit, that was a bit thick. The very kind of mundanity of Wallace and Gromit's existence. Porridge today, Gromit. Tuesday. Set against the extraordinary kind of Thunderbirds lifestyle that they lead. A great poster that was done for Were-Rabbit. By Wallace it says Master, and by Gromit it says Mind, and I think that really sums them up perfectly. Gromit is one of my favourite characters ever created in animation, and he never speaks. Yet there's so much expression in him. It's all about body language, and the way his face presents itself to the camera, and making your audience understand what he's thinking without saying a word. It's so difficult. Oh, come on, Gromit. A bit more, yes, you know, alluring. Very cheeky. I've seen less capable comedic human actors than Gromit. Do you know what I mean? What he can do with a look, I say he, or whoever the 15 people have made him have that look, is sort of Stan Laurel-esque, you know. I would say it's approaching genius, if not actual genius. Set coordinates for 62 West Wallaby Street. A grand day out earned Nick an Oscar nomination, but sadly it didn't win, and there was only one person who was good enough to beat Nick Park. Nick Park. Sound running, when you're ready. I remember the first time I saw an Aardman animated film. I was sitting there in this big auditorium watching, and Creature Conference came on. And I was amazed. Well, sometimes you can't get out and about as much as you would like to. You're stuck in for some reason, like I'm stuck in today. And then, yes, you get bored, and you get fed up with looking at the same four walls. There's always been stop-motion work going on, but nothing like that. Nothing that had that sense of character. Well, most of the cages are a bit small and either grotty and everything. I thought, God, who wrote this stuff? Who were the actors that said it? But it wasn't. It was real people. That's what was the magic. Yeah, it was reasonably comfortable, I suppose, this place, but... Me and a journalist went out trying to find people who were not that happy with where they are. If you try to compare the situations and the environment that we live here with the environment that we live in Brazil, there is a big difference. Here, you live in a very small place with all the technological advances possible. The Brazilian jaguar guy, and he hated the food and the weather, and he's got a little flat, and he stole the show, really. I miss the fresh meat, you know, because in Brazil we are predominantly carnivores. We are not, you know, vegetarian, and we don't like potatoes, we like meat, and we like fresh meat. The polar bears always made me laugh. They were a family that ran the corner shop around the corner from the studio. My favourite food is, I'm afraid to say, steak. We told the youngest one, Andrew, don't be shy, say what you think, and so he felt this obligation just to say anything. Just start talking about lion steak. Do you like lions as well, then? Do you like steak and chips with lions with it? Not with lions, Andrew, no. When you look at the success of programmes like Gogglebox, people are so wonderfully funny in their own world. It was just basically knockout scene after knockout scene in a row for several minutes, and then it's done. And it's like you practically feel Nick Park dropping the mic and backing away, going like, that's animation, you know? Despite taking a fraction of the time to create, these more vocal animals pipped Wallace and Gromit to the post and scooped Nick Park and Aardman their very first Oscar. It's really weird to be against yourself in the same award, so you're not knowing whether to be happy or cry at the same time. And just being there for doing these plasticine animated films, but you're sat there with Sophia Loren and Dustin Hoffman and, you know, everybody you've ever heard of is around, I'm thinking, what am I doing here? You know? And just when you thought it was safe to put the kettle on, Aardman start popping up in the commercial breaks. Every Tom, Dick and advertising Harry wanted a slice of their unique combination of animated wizardry and humour. And back in 1986, they were behind one of pop music's most iconic videos. How about some refreshments, eh lad? Now for a soothing massage. First time I saw the wrong trousers. That was mind-blowing. It was so funny. It was such a great story. And that penguin, I think, is one of the great villains of all time. He doesn't do really anything before you know that he's sinister. It's almost just the camera angles and just a little look that he does. And you know, uh-oh, there's something animal inside you that goes, I don't trust this penguin. It was Hitchcockian. You've never seen Hitchcock in clay animation? Come on. Gromit hiding in the box and the penguin looking at him. Oh my god, that was the best. In fact, I, to this day, I say we've got to rip that off. We have to rip that off for The Simpsons. What a, what a shocking calamity. When he comes back and puts Wallace into the bed and then he goes off to do the heist at the museum, he puts the rubber glove on his head and he just brushes it with his hand. That just gives him a slightly dangerous kind of humanity, you know, like a sort of slight bit of vanity. And I think it's just adding those little subtle things are what makes them really. In terms of the music, Nick wanted some threat, jeopardy, that kind of thing in the story that wasn't there in Wallace and Gromit before. Wallace was asleep and was upside down hanging in the museum. Nick wanted that sense of threat to come out, so we used the sort of Bernard Herrmann chord, you know, the. And when he takes it off and it's like Wallace goes, you. Kukri, it's you. He didn't recognize him. Now, let me out of these trousers this minute. The dramatic finale is one of animation's most memorable moments and one of the most impressive feats of stop motion ever seen. I can't see a thing. What's happening? When Nick actually presented us with the idea of the train chase, I'm thinking like, wow, great. But how how do we achieve that? I still have no idea how that's how they finished it by now. You know, they would have had to start that in about 1900. If I was in charge of that. We tried really fast paced chase music. Somehow it didn't have any sense of fun and it needed. So we broke the rule for the train chase and actually did out and out comedy music. So this sort of thing. The whole cinematography is an illusion. It's like a magic trick. If you analyze the train chase, it is ridiculous how long that room would actually be. But it was a 20 foot set used in some shots over and over again. I mean, if you analyze when he's putting the tracks down, the animators have an arm there and arm there. It's going that fast. And sometimes you have to put three arms in there. I love a chase, even though we do use a lot of sophisticated equipment now. Always try to emulate that train chase. Well done. We did it. The Wrong Trousers became an instant classic, earning Nick Parker second Oscar and making Wallace and Gromit a household name. But navigating a round trip to the moon and foiling a sinister penguins diamond heist was a mere walk in the park compared to what they would face on their next adventure. Romance. They said we wanted a female version of Wallace. Thank you for coming so quickly. I said to Nick, why did you choose me? And he said, well, we saw you on television and we thought your voice sounded like it came out of a puppet. I said, oh, really? I'd never thought of that. Won't take a minute. Wallace's love interests. He keeps on trying. Bless him. Paella. She was a bad apple. Lady Tottington, besotted by her amazing produce. He's never shown any interest in my produce. He's lost, Lady Tottington. But it wasn't to be, you know, she was aristocracy. But Wendelin, she was great. How would I describe Wendelin and Wallace? The same time next week. It's like talking about Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. I want no more of this rustling. Oh, it wasn't so bad when it was just the wool, but this is evil. But like many of the classic romances, there was a third person in the relationship. In this case, an entrepreneurial sheep murdering cyber dog. A bit cliched, I know. But in the end, it was a much more serious matter that came between them. Oh, why'd you come in? We were just about to have some cheese. Oh, no, not cheese. Sorry, it brings me out in a rash. Can't stand the stuff. Not even Wensleydale? No, no, no, they'd never get on if she didn't like cheese. Goodbye, Chuck. I think it's one of those extra layers in the writing of Wallace and Romick that just makes them, firstly, really funny, but actually quite touching. It doesn't always have to be a super happy ending into the sunset. But, you know, while there's eternal hope that you will always find the one, Wallace will keep on going. What's wrong with Wensleydale? I've done a lot of interesting things in my life, but that is so special. And when I was recording The Voice, Nick turned my script over on the back and he drew Wallace and Gromit and Wendoline. This is it, right? Isn't that wonderful? It's one of my treasures. Wallace and Gromit have won their creator, Nick Park, a record-breaking third Oscar in Hollywood. Whilst Nick Park was probably considering investing in a longer mantelpiece, Aardman received an invitation from Hollywood animation studio DreamWorks. I have, over the years, have been a great fan of Aardman. And, you know, I sort of had this secret admiration and ambition that maybe someday there would be a way to work together. I remember flying on DreamWorks' private jet. I had to kind of pinch myself. I never thought plasticine would lead to such a glamorous lifestyle. We were invited to a dinner and Steven Spielberg was there and Jeffrey Katzberg was there. I just remember being so excited about them, you know, in their quiet, you know, sort of Bristol, British way. Jeffrey turned to me and said, So guys, do you have any ideas that you'd like to pitch to us? And in Hollywood, the Hollywood pitch is a sacred moment. They've drawn a picture of a chicken digging its way out of a chicken coop. We're going to do The Great Escape with chickens. I remember Steven Spielberg saying, The Great Escape is one of my favourite films and I have 300 chickens on my ranch. And the pitch went great. The little team of animators from Bristol had become hot Hollywood property. But embarking on their first ever full-length movie was to prove quite a leap. The budget grew from a million pounds to 30 million. A team of six grew to over 80. Two actors became a whole cast of stars and a small studio in Bristol became, well, a small studio in Bristol. Aardman insisted that this Hollywood blockbuster was going to be homemade. They had just 18 months to create poultry in motion. It was a punt, you know, it was a daring punt. We were shown around and saw this massive crew of people, you know, there was a sense of, Goodness me, there's a sense of risk here. How are they going to do this? Jeffrey Katzenberg is a sort of stereotypical Hollywood movie mogul. You know, speaks his mind about everything. But I felt enormous respect from him at the same time. I asked them, What's it like working with Jeffrey Katzenberg? And they said, Oh my gosh, that man is a genius. We hear from him with a new idea all the time. He's just a wonderful partner and collaborator. It's fantastic. Then a production assistant walked in at that moment and said, Jeffrey Katzenberg is on the line. And all three of them turned simultaneously and said, We're not here. Jeffrey was sort of like Mrs. Tweedy. He would come into the coop and open up one of the grooves and catches them. Messing around. No, no, it wasn't like that at all. It was a rocky road, but they did it. And Aardman's first ever feature film was about to be seen by the world. That opening scene of them running through that chicken coop. And all of a sudden, you're transported to a starlag in the Second World War. It's just, you know, it's just joyful. I'm stuck. Get back. You know straight away you're in safe hands and you're in their world. Welcome to the Aardman world. And look at it, isn't it lovely? No chicken escapes from Tweedy's farm. Chicken Run is still the highest grossing stop motion film of all time. And the reason why the category of best animated feature was introduced to the Oscars. A person in a shop once said to me, weren't you the voice of a plasticine chicken? I thought that's my claim to fame now. A plasticine chicken. Morning, Ginger. Back from holiday? I wasn't on holiday, Babs. I was in solitary confinement. Oh, it's nice to get a bit of time to yourself, isn't it? They're such great characters. They're well written and the amount of time I've had to say, I don't want to be a pie. I don't like gravy. Chicken pies? Yes, but I don't want to be a pie. I don't like gravy. Chickens in a prisoner of war camp. With prisoner of war camp characters. You called? Nick and Fetcher at your service. There are people who are slightly dodgy who can supply things. We need some more things. Right you are. How about this quality handcrafted tea set? Uh, no. Or this lovely necklace and pendant? It's lovely. Or this beautiful little number? All the rides in the fashionable chicken coops of Paris. Simply pop it on like so and as the French hens say, voila! That is French. That's two hats in one, miss. For parties. For weddings. Oh, madame, this makes you look like a vision, like a dream. Like a duck. No, thank you. I like the escape at the end. I think that's fantastic and it really does get you going. Great Scott, what was that? You find yourself really wanting these characters to succeed. What am I doing? These are things about the plaster scene. Well, I'm going to cry in that, you know what I mean? Years and tears and joy all go into this. Like, you know, these people are serious, serious craftsmen. The process is pretty similar across everything we make. We start with the idea, which is worked into a script. We then take that script and we start to visualise it in the storyboarding process. And then those line drawings are taken into an edit suite where we start to actually build the film. We'll record the actual voice artists. We'll start commissioning sets. We'll start making puppets. And then we will animate it in stop motion. So an example would be if Wallace was to just roll his fingers like that. First of all, you'd have to take the little finger and move it just a little bit and then take a picture of it. You might need to move it just a little bit more if it wasn't quite right. Then you would have to take the next finger and put it into the position so it was just right. And then it might need an adjustment. And then you take another picture of that. To be an Aardman animator, I would think you'd have to be slightly bonkers in terms of obsessiveness. They are shy performers. That's a very special category. There's a kind of oddness to them all which I heartily approve of. And then you'd probably have to move them both just a little bit. You have to be passionate about it. You have to be obsessed by it. Half of your life on your knees moving, you know, moving a little hand from there to there. You have to be able to go, and then back up, click, back up. You have to make that noise too. It's like some weird sort of torture really. I think I'd go, oh come on, we've been doing this for two and a half years now. Let's just put a brick wall up. But no, every single frame is just full of stuff. None of it would be advised in the careers office, none of it. Trouble is with animation is that you start work on a film and five years later you finish it. Yeah, I'm an experienced animation producer. I've got two credits. Then you probably need to start on the middle finger. Move it just a little bit. To make that look realistic at all seems to me impossible. To make it look realistic and funny with perfect timing and to get the plasticine lips moving in sync to the dialogue. It's just pure genius. I like seeing the different fingerprints and shapings and it makes it feel alive to me in a way, quite honestly, that CG does not. And this is from a guy that's doing CG. Human beings are able to be very expressive, but a lump of plasticine isn't. How do they do that? I don't know. That's a lot of work. By this time, this end finger's reached the top and it probably needs to be coming down. So you move it down just a little bit. But this one's still going up, so you need to move that one up just a tiny amount. Animation. It looks like pure torture to me, lad. Shall we see what's on the other side? I think this remote's on the blink lamp. But whilst American audiences loved the antics of some heroic chickens, what would they make of the quintessentially English escapades of a hapless cheese-loving inventor and his long-suffering canine companion? They love the Britishness. I think they probably think it's a documentary, to be honest. I think they treat it as documentary. Geoffrey said, why is his truck rusty? Well, we understand why his truck would be rusty. Geoffrey expected him to have a brand new shiny Chevrolet. That's the British humour, I think. Things are cool because they're not. I mean, I was going to call Curse of the Weir Rabbit the great vegetable plot, but they did a lot of marketing research and came back with... I'm afraid vegetables are a negative with kids. Antipesto Humane Pest Control. How might we be of assistance? Ah, yes. Lady Tottington here, of Tottington Hall. Your ladyship. This is an honour. Oh, ow. It's a disaster. I have the most terrible rabbit problem. Just stay right where you are, your ladyship, and we'll be with you in an hour. In an hour? I can't wait an hour. I have a major infestation. We saw the world differently. For example, I mean, simple example, think of Aladdin. Beautiful hero, beautiful heroine, with huge eyes. That's what they're used to. Instead of which, you've got Wallace and Lady Tottington, who are both pretty damn weird-looking. Sometimes in the conversation, you just got the idea that they just wish it was a bit less British, that film. We love it, but it's just a bit British, you know? We have wrought a terrible judgement upon ourselves. Mental. It is very British. They've never tried to be anything else, and I always think that's a good idea. And the great thing about the British sense of comedy, it will show you as it is, but it will always say, aren't we ludicrous? Look how we carry on. You stupid English, with your Yorkshire puddings and your chips and fish. We apologise as soon as we walk into a room, as a national characteristic. Sorry, can I just... Oh, sorry, sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's not my fault. Oh, would you awfully mind if it's possible if you could see your waiter, you know? I think I need a cup of tea after all that. Of course, you can't have a British story without some good old British drama. Six o'clock this morning, a day Aardman was meant to be celebrating. Its latest movie, top of the US box office. But in Bristol, much of the company's entire archive was going up in flames. I got a phone call to say that there'd been a fire and a warehouse where we kept all the archive, all the models had burnt down. A lot of the original Wallace & Gommett sets, sadly, went up in flames. And all the Chicken Run models, the whole cast, really. It was sad because there was a lot of memories that were lost. But it would take more than this to stop our plucky animators. Music, maestro! The following year, Aardman broke their own mould by making their first film without a lump of clay in sight. When we started out doing puppet animation, that was the only way to put good three-dimensional kind of animation on screen. Bon voyage, me old cream cracker! But gradually, another useful strand came up alongside us, which is CG animation, which actually is kind of doing the same thing but in a very different way. I know, I'm no fool. I know that everyone loves the handmade plasticine animation, the thing that we do best. Good night. Good night, Roddy. Don't let the bedbugs bite. But telling a good story with good characters, that's the most important thing. Some people say, oh, they've lost something in going away from what they know best. I don't really care. You know, I'm into us being brave and eclectic and trying different things. That's important to me. In 2007, Aardman's partnership with DreamWorks came to an end. We declared that we're going to go our own way because us making British films is terribly important to us. Of course, you know, of course, I would say I want it to play everywhere in the world. But what I want is I want the American public to love a completely British film. That's what I want, you know, not to change what we do. But Aardman bounced back with yet another, wait for it, award-winning Wallace and Gromit adventure. And boy, did it deliver. A serial killing fruitcake. An explosive finale. Gromit, it's a bomb. The cake's a bomb. And some poppy love. Let's go plundering. Well, with the wind firmly beneath their sails, they set off on their most ambitious venture ever. Everything I was watching was CG and suddenly I saw pirates and I sat there and I was just amazed at how beautiful it was because it wasn't computer generated. It was real light hitting real materials. And welcome to the 59th annual Pirate of the Year. Initially with Pirates, we thought we'd have to do the whole thing CGI because, you know, the number of the characters and the water and so on. But in order for us to understand what it was going to look like, we built the cabin set and it was so beautiful. Well, as soon as we saw this set, we thought, oh, let's just do it like this. I'm the pirate captain and I'm here for your gold. Gold? This is a plague boat, old man. I'd give my right arm for some gold. Or my left. It was based on some children's books and the books themselves are very, very funny. Brilliant. Anarchic. The script's quite peculiar when you first read it. So this is Charles Darwin, but he's not Charles Darwin and he's also in love with the queen who is trying to murder a dodo and is also a sort of ninja. And that is Diddy on. In all honesty, I really do like the silliness of it. I really do. I'm a big fan of stupidity. Oh, I had to do some acting, which I've tried to avoid in life, but I really had to give a performance and I thought if I'm going to do that, at least no one can see my face. Ah, by Neptune, where's that ship? I sounded rather marvellous with a big beardy voice. Mind out, captain coming through. Thank you very much. Thank you. My only slight regret is that no one believes it's me, least of all my children. They say, that's not daddy. That sequence where the bathtub goes down the stairs, how you think that sequence up in the first place and then how you start to break that down and to physicalise it, I can't conceive of how long. It's just, I mean, it's just delightful. Sweet, Neptune on a bike. I love Mr Bobo. There's a bit where they're up to their dastardly plan. He holds up a card saying, but. Again, very silly and brilliant. My favourite joke in the whole film, it made me laugh every time we had to record it, is the bit about the sea monster on the map when the pirate captain said, we can't go that way. There's this dirty great sea monster in the way. I think they just add those onto maps for decoration, captain. And then, of course, what's even more delicious is that right at the end of the film, it gets paid off. You see, I told you. Just added on for decoration, my foot. When something's as good as their films are, of course you want to be involved in that. It's not, they don't have to beg actors to sign up. Actors are begging, man. So very wise, captain. I wanted to be part of that process. Well, actually, no, that's a lie. Not the process. I didn't think I wanted to be, I just thought I want to be in an Arden film. You can't just say are at the end of a sentence and think that makes everything all right. Directing the actors is a huge pleasure and a privilege, but I have to admit that we are such control freaks in animation. Actors do end up doing a lot of tapes and sometimes it's frankly embarrassing. On take 72 of Avast, I did slightly feel like running my cutlass through Peter Lord occasionally. You think, how many more ways do you want me to say captain? You know, there aren't any more ways to say it. And it turns out there were more ways. Captain! Because I did him. Captain! I apologize to any actors that have been driven mad in the process. Sweet Neptune's briny pants. Then we had Aardman's unique twist on a Christmas classic, answering all those age-old questions. Ho, ho, ho! That's a ho, ho, ho, ho! Field elves, jingle! Jingle, jingle! Drop time, 18.14 seconds per household! We actually set out to answer how Santa does it. So we're here for the parents to help you. Help you explain to your kids, here's how it can all be done in one night. Isn't this the best bit of Christmas? And we got to meet the whole Claus family. It certainly is, Arthur. The whole family together. It was a very witty idea to have Father Christmas as a completely bemused and bewildered chap. Um, well, uh, here's to me doing an even better job next year. And then there's his old dad who's going, oh, it was much better in my day. Christmas 1941, World War II, I did the whole thing with six reindeer and a drunken elf. Then the younger son, Arthur, who's the kind of goofy nesbit, he's terrified of heights, of fear of flying, he's allergic to snow, he's frightened of reindeer. I'm not really good at big animals. But he absolutely is passionate about Christmas. Yes, do believe in Santa. I particularly liked Steve, played by Hugh Laurie, who was addicted to espresso and technology, which was a very nice idea for Father Christmas's son. Forget Techno Tommy, he's texting on his calculator after another job. It's a handheld operational and homing organiser, the Ho-Ho 3000. Woo, whoopie-doo. Aren't you the fancy Nazi? And the thing about it is, is the dialogue actually does resemble the way in which people speak, which is very rare in any form, whether it's movies or even the theatre. But of course, some of Aardman's funniest, scariest and most lovable characters have never uttered a single word, including the most successful character in their 40-year history. No, no, not you, Crommett, love. We'll call him Sean, eh? When we did A Close Shave, Sean has a very small role, I think he's six minutes on screen. We had no idea that he would take off. It was partly due to Baby Spice wearing a Shaun the Sheep rucksack in a photograph, and suddenly Shaun the Sheep, you know, just rocketed. In typical Aardman fashion, sort of another 10 or 12 years later, we eventually got around to making a series. It's Shaun the Sheep, it's Shaun the Sheep. He even mucks about with those who cannot flee. His character was so obvious right from the start that he was a lovable, friendly, but naughty type of sheep. We chose not to do dialogue. I really wanted to make silent comedy. You don't see a great deal of it in the modern day. Slapstick comedy needs to look effortless. It's hard enough to do it in live action, but to do it animated has to be even harder. I remember the audition very clearly. I had to do things like, I had to vocalise Sean being pulled along by a lawnmower, and I remember kind of going... And it was the most bizarre audition. After 130 episodes, the time had come for Shaun to step up to the big screen, leaving the farm for the big city, where not everyone is as friendly. I like noises. When you get older, you make noise. It's a cliche, but we all make noises. Like when you drop your phone, you kind of go... And when you reach this thing, oh, I'll buy another one. With Shaun the Sheep, it's dialogue interpretation, so you are interpreting as an actor what the sheep are hearing when the humans speak. The laughing bar, I used to kind of do this... But the whisper, that was quite a challenge, where you had to bring it right down. It's a weird thing to direct, because you're kind of asking somebody to make a little squeak, and then you're saying, can you put a little bit more fear into that squeak? We take it seriously, you know, you may as well be making Apocalypse Now, you know, The Godfather. It wasn't always smooth. You know, they'd say, can you just give us a simple hmm? I went, all right, yeah. They went, no, no, no, it's just a simple hmm. I went, but I don't think my character would do that. He goes, well, just give us a hmm. I said, well, I wouldn't do it. He goes, should we take five? I said, all right, fine, let's take five. And I'd sit there, and there'd be tension. That's the kind of, you know, forensic look at the creative process. You really do have an argument about hmm. You've got masses of comedy, but it's sometimes very subtle. If you get physical humour right, you can't really beat it. No messing around. He's up, he's down. He's all finished. But you've also got some really poignant moments that are lovely. The last sequence where it looks like it's game over, and then the farmer puts his arms around the entire flock, and it just gives me a lump in the throat thinking about it. What I love about it is there is no language barrier. Anyone in the world can sit down and watch Sean and know exactly what's going on and enjoy it. Sean and his pals are now global superstars. And today, Aardman's creations are enjoyed by families in over 170 countries around the world. What a lot of people don't know about the zoos are that there is a whole world that goes on there when they're not there. They have no idea what goes on. I can't tell you more than that, sorry. And I must say, these two look vaguely familiar. Crumble will soon have your garden gnomes back in tip-top condition. Willis and Crumble has nothing to do with Wallace and Gromit, and I don't know why people think that. You must come in for a spot of tea and a homemade Marmite sandwich. Homemade Marmite? No, of course. It was our loving tribute to Wallace and Gromit. And my favorite part is having Nick Park play himself, and it was his voice on The Simpsons. Good luck, Mr. Park. There'd be no shame in losing to you. Oh, that's very sweet of you. Thank you for saying so. No worries. I'll just stick them back on. I'm more clay than man now. It's nice to be spoofed and sent up. It's an honor. Stop fooling around, Gromit. Aardman and Nick Park are now working on their next film. 200,000 years in the making. Not slow even for them. Come in here for a sneak peek of my new project. This is Doug, who's the main character from Early Man, who's a plucky little caveman, and he is the hero that leads his tribe against the superpower of the Bronze Age. There's gonna be a lot more treacherous and dangerous looking places and prehistoric creatures. We're taking a bit of license with history, I guess. I feel at home, you know, that I'm back with clay characters. It's gonna be quite an exciting couple of years. Slow, but exciting. Looking back, where we are now is miraculous. I mean, it's incredible, frankly. Nobody was making animated feature films, virtually except Disney. The fact we've made six British animated feature films is astonishing. For me now to be at festivals and wherever and have students and people in their 20s coming up to me saying, I was inspired by your work and Bardman is the reason I got into animated films. It's a lovely thing. That's a fantastic thing to be able to do, actually, to come up and dream up those worlds and actually tell stories in them and let people sort of immerse themselves in them. What's to complain about? 40 years, over 500 awards and more unforgettable moments and characters than you can shake a clay stick at. Isn't it amazing what can be made with some patience, plasticine and a little imagination? As someone who loves animation and as an animator, I am so thankful that Aardman has been around these last 40 years. You know, there aren't many things that move me to patriotism. The Rolling Stones, obviously, Harold Pinter, Crystal Palace Football Club, but they're just really, really good filmmakers and they make big, and I know there's another cliche and you just put your fingers in your ears, but big-hearted and full of humanity and humour and we can use some of that. It's a celebration of the medium of animation. It is great entertainment. It's great storytelling. There's a lot of laughs, but ultimately, you come away with a feeling of joy. Without Aardman, the world would be slightly less silly and slightly less fun. I don't care whether you're six or 16 or 66, they're funny and they make you laugh. I love them for staying British and for staying Bristol to make these films that embrace the world. We need magic. We need magic more now than we ever have. Aardman continue to produce it and, my God, does magic take a lot of work. I passionately hope that they continue what they're doing because I'm not even kidding when I say that I think they make the world a slightly better place to be in. Well done, old pal! Really, what they've done is made a... It's surely the only legacy anyone who works in that world could really wish for. Oh, guess what's next, lad? It's live churning from Wensleydale.