Boxing Day Special: A GRAND NIGHT IN: THE STORY OF AARDMAN celebrating 40 years of filmmaking

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Published on Wednesday, 23 December 2015 11:00

Last Updated on 21 December 2015

Monica Costa

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If you are a big fan of Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, Timmy Time to name a few classic animation series, you will be happy to know that this Christmas on Boxing Day there will be a special BBC One Documentary called A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman celebrating Aardman’s 40th anniversary starring a host of famous people, both human and clay.

Narrated by Julie Walters, the programme looks at Aardman’s multi award winning work across film, TV and advertising including all the much loved characters from Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Morph and Creature Comforts.

Bespoke animation of family favourite Aardman characters Wallace & Gromit and Morph has been created as part of the documentary, and a host of A-list Aardman fans share their best moments and experiences of working with the studio, including Martin Freeman, Jane Horrocks, David Tennant, Bill Nighy, Terry Gilliam, Omid Djalili, Justin Fletcher, Anne Reid, Matt Groening, John Lasseter, Timothy Spall and Hugh Grant.

Established in 1976 Aardman is a British success story, a world leader in animation, producing feature films, series and advertising. A Grand Night In: The story of Aardman will give viewers an opportunity to go behind the scenes of some of the nation’s much loved stories and understand the unique process used to bring Aardman’s iconic characters to life.

In a recent interview Aardman co-founders David Sproxton and Peter Lord talked about celebrating the milestone.  David Sproxton said:
“When we arrived in Bristol in 1976 with our clockwork cine camera there was a total of three television channels for the British audience to watch. Although we were lucky enough to have a small contract with BBC Children’s Television we never imagined our two man outfit would develop into a major studio of international repute. It’s been an extraordinary journey, even if it is one we’ve taken one frame at a time.”

Peter Lord added: “The last forty years has been an amazing adventure. When we arrived in Bristol forty years ago, our only ambition was to find a niche, if we possibly could, in the world of animation. Our friends and colleagues thought we were pretty well barmy to start up anywhere outside London. So it’s amazing now to find that Aardman has become this huge community of superbly talented people, making films and telling stories that travel all round the world.”

‘A GRAND NIGHT IN: THE STORY OF AARDMAN’ will be shown on Boxing Day at 2:25pm as part of the BBC One festive season alongside a brand new 30 minute special adventure SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE FARMER’S LLAMAS which is also showing on Boxing Day at 6:15pm, continuing Aardman’s festive heritage with the BBC.