Wallace & Gromit (franchise)

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Wallace & Gromit is a multimedia franchise created by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations. The series focuses largely on the adventures of the two titular characters - an elderly, absent-minded inventor and his mute, intelligent canine companion - who made their debut in the 1989 claymation short film, a A Grand Day Out, which spawned a series of further award-winning, and critically acclaimed short films, and an abundance of other media in television, film, and other mediums.

The third Wallace & Gromit short, 1995's A Close Shave, introduced the breakout character of Shaun the Sheep, whose popularity would ensure him his own spin-off franchise with its own media, including its own spinoff television series, Timmy time.

Crossover[[edit] | [edit source]]

The series crosses over with the Doctor Who universe in the Roblox game Wonder Chase [+]Loading...["Wonder Chase (video game)"]. Since the game's inception, an advertisement could be found in Wonder Central for Shaun the Sheep, with an image of the titular character giving two thumbs ups.

Later, on 30 May 2024, a "Shaun the Sheep Update!" was released, adding various characters to the game alongside a new location, Dream Factory, and various stickers based upon Shaun the Sheep.

References to Wallace & Gromit in the DWU[[edit] | [edit source]]

in The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"], Edward Greyhaven owns a Wallace and Gromit themed ringbinder, in which he keeps a script for a speech he gives as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

In Robot Week [+]Loading...["Robot Week (TV story)"], Lauren Layfield introduces the Wallace & Gromit film A Close Shave, stating that fans of Shaun the Sheep should tune in for it.

References to the DWU in Wallace & Gromit[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Wallace & Gromit comic The W Files pastiches various elements of the Doctor Who universe, primarily UNIT. In the story, "UNITWIT" (a pastiche of UNIT) appear, with members of the organisation including Sergeant Fenton (a pastiche of Sergeant Benton) as well as a pastiche of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

The Shaun the Sheep episode Party Animals features one of the sheep dressing up as a Dalek for the Farmer's birthday party. The Farmer is briefly scared by their entrance, and the Dalek-sheep has trouble getting up the stairs.

The film Farmageddon features an appearance by the Third Doctor's sonic screwdriver, as well the sheep dressing up as Daleks, scaring the Fourth Doctor (or a cosplayer) back into a porta-potty (referencing the Doctor's TARDIS's police box exterior). The credits of the film feature this porta-potty TARDIS flying through outer space.

Connections[[edit] | [edit source]]

Actors[[edit] | [edit source]]

Peter Sallis, who played Elric Penley in The Ice Warriors, was the original voice of Wallace, serving as his primary voice actor for the majority of Wallace & Gromit media until his retirement in 2010.

Anne Reid, who played Crane in The Curse of Fenric and "Florence Finnegan" in Smith and Jones, voiced Wendolene in A Close Shave.

The feature film, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, featured the voices of Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay, Nicholas Smith, Vincent Ebrahim, Edward Kelsey, Dicken Ashworth, Mark Gatiss, and Christopher Fairbank. The video game tie-in additionally featured the voices of Kayvan Novak, Joan Walker, Liz Morgan, and Eve Karpf.

Melissa Collier, who voiced several characters in the Big Finish audio, Portrait of a Lady, provided the animal vocalisations of Fluffles in A Matter of Loaf and Death.

The video game, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, featured the voices of Heather Coombs, Glen McCready, David Rintoul, and Struan Rodger.

Actors to lend their voices to the Shaun the Sheep franchise, in both television and film, include Kate Harbour, Andy Nyman, Simon Greenall, Sean Connolly, David Holt, Joe Sugg, Naomi McDonald, Laura Aikman, and Anna Leong Brophy.

Christmas 2008[[edit] | [edit source]]

One of the many stings from BBC One's Wallace & Gromit-themed Christmas ident campaign in 2008.

The fourth Wallace & Gromit short film, A Matter of Loaf and Death, had its premiere on BBC One on Christmas Day 2008, the same day as that year's Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Next Doctor. It outranked Doctor Who as the most watched Christmas Day programme of that year.

In promotion of the short's broadcast, BBC One's Christmas idents for that year were Wallace & Gromit-themed. As revealed in The Writer's Tale, these idents were what gave Russell T Davies the idea to create the following year's Doctor Who-themed ident, The Doctor and the Reindeer.

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]