Huzzah! Variety reports Aardman Animation’s Wallace & Gromit are back at work, with a new film to be shown on BBC1 at Christmas next year.

Trouble at’ Mill, co-written by Nick Park and Bob Baker, sees Wallace and Gromit open a bakery but Wallace again becomes sidetracked by a love interest, Piella Bakewell. With his master distracted, Gromit is left to solve a murder.

The film, which is the same length as productions such as The Wrong Trousers goes into production at Aardman’s Bristol base inin January and will run for 30 minutes and

“I love making films for the cinema, but the production of Chicken Run and Curse of the Were-Rabbit were virtually back to back, and each film took five years to complete,” Park told the BBC. “Trouble at’ Mill will be so much quicker to make, and I can’t wait to get back into production.

“It’s nice to be out of that feature film pressure now. I’m making this for myself again and the people who love Wallace and Gromit.”

• There’s an interview-style short film about the new project on Wallaceandgromit.com and Aardman will be delivering regular video blogs from the Aardman crew as the production progresses.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: Animation

Tags: Wallace and Gromit