Wallace & Gromit / Shaun the Sheep / Chicken Run (article)

Published by Mason Oldridge, 13 January 2026

Aardman Animations is a British animation studio known for its claymation stop-motion and offers a unique style and tone of production in comparison to modern CGI. They maintain a particular British approach to humour which works alongside its animation type to create a funny, enjoyable and magical collection of films for all the family. Here we take a look at three sub-franchises from Nick Park that headline the studio: Wallace & Gromit, its spin-off Shaun the Sheep and Aardman’s feature-length debut Chicken Run.

Wallace & Gromit

Cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his loyal canine companion Gromit embark on several adventures in the studio’s flagship franchise. Disney has Mickey Mouse. DreamWorks has Shrek. Illumination has Minions. Aardman has Wallace & Gromit. Wallace is voiced by Peter Sallis in a Yorkshire accent, while Gromit is mute. The duo debuted in 1989 with the short film A Grand Day Out. Based on the legend that the moon is made of cheese, they build a homemade rocket and take a trip to the moon to consume a piece of Wallace’s favourite delicacy, where they fall foul of a coin-operated robot. Second instalment The Wrong Trousers (1993) saw the studio’s first collaboration with the BBC, who aired the special that Christmas, and is also the first to feature Feathers McGraw, fiction’s greatest villain. The dastardly penguin lodges at Wallace’s house and uses his latest Techno-Trousers invention in an attempt to steal a blue diamond from the city museum, culminating in a comical chase aboard a model railway. The fact that he simply puts a red rubber glove on his head to feign being a chicken is hilarious, even more so when the simplistic guise works, with Feathers going on to become a legendary character. In their third endeavour A Close Shave (1995), Wallace and Gromit are now operating a window cleaning business, driving around on a motorbike and sidecar. Wallace falls for wool shopkeeper Wendolene (Anne Reid), unaware that the material is provided by her sheep rustling pet dog Preston. Wallace sees his Knit-O-Matic sheep shearing machine be used in the operation by this new villain, who later attempts to turn those who get in his way into dog food. In 2005, the fourth story and first to be a feature film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was released. Wallace and Gromit become pest control agents as the town’s giant vegetable competition looms. When a destructive were-rabbit ravages gardens, Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter) persuades the town to let the duo handle the situation, despite the villainous hunter Victor (Ralph Fiennes) aspiring to take on the task himself and win her affections. However, things become more complicated when Wallace is revealed to be the monster, who transforms under a full moon. Peter Kay also stars as Police Constable Albert Mackintosh. A co-production with DreamWorks Animation, Park revealed how he disliked their constant production notes to tailor the film more to American audiences; the partnership was terminated in 2007. Wallace and Gromit returned for their fifth outing in 2008, back to the short film format, in A Matter of Loaf and Death. Wallace and Gromit now run their own bakery, when Wallace falls for Piella Bakewell (Sally Lindsay), a former bread company model who turns out to be a serial killer targeting bakers. This instalment was the last to feature Peter Sallis as the voice of Wallace, with Ben Whitehead taking over the role.

Shaun the Sheep

A children’s television series based on the character of Shaun the Sheep from A Close Shave has been broadcast since 2007, following Shaun and his flock’s adventures at Mossy Bottom Farm, run by The Farmer and his disgruntled sheepdog Bitzen. A pre-school spin-off featuring lamb Timmy at nursery aired from 2009-2012. In 2015, Shaun the Sheep Movie was released, which sees the flock and Bitzen visit the big city to rescue The Farmer. The film is silent like the series, which is no main feat for a feature film, but it works effortlessly, with much of the comedy arising from actions and facial expressions. Meanwhile, The Farmer suffers amnesia and, when hair clippers spark a brief memory of sheep shearing, he becomes a hotshot hairdresser in a hilarious chain of events. In 2019, a sequel Farmageddon followed, in which Shaun discovers an alien called Lu-La has crash landed at the farm and embarks on an adventure to help her get back home, while evading capture by the Ministry of Alien Detection. Elsewhere, The Farmer capitalises on the town’s new interest in UFOs by creating the Farmageddon theme park, with the pigs painted green and dubbed Martian Pigs in what is possibly the funniest part of the film.

Chicken Run

Chicken Run was released in 2000 as Aardman’s first feature film. Ginger and her flock of chickens plot to escape their Yorkshire farm when they learn that their evil owner Mrs Tweedy plans to turn them into chicken pies. They enlist the help of American rooster Rocky, whose cannonball act they mistake for an ability to fly. Eventually, elderly rooster Fowler’s stories of being in the Royal Air Force encourage the group to build a plane and fly to safety. Many years later, a sequel Dawn of the Nugget was released in 2023. Now living in their island sanctuary, Ginger and Rocky have an adventurous young daughter called Molly, who discovers Fun-Land Farms, which turns out to be a poultry processing plant that uses collars to turn their chickens into mindless soldiers marching to their deaths to become chicken nuggets. The group then plan a daring rescue, learning that the plant is run by Mrs Tweedy.

With upcoming projects on the way, let’s hope Aardman continue to expand these sub-franchises as well as deliver some exciting standalone films too. Cheese, Gromit!