Doodlewatch

Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. All the characters were made from moulded plasticine modelling clay on metal armatures, and filmed with stop motion clay animation.

Wallace, an absent-minded inventor from Wigan, Lancashire, is a cheese enthusiast (especially for Wensleydale cheese). His companion, Gromit, is an anthropomorphic intelligent dog. Wallace is voiced by veteran actor Peter Sallis; Gromit remains silent, communicating only through facial expressions and body language.

Due to their popularity, the characters have been called positive international icons of modern British culture and of the British people. BBC News has called them “some of the best-known and best-loved stars to come out of the UK.” Icons has stated that they have done “more to improve the image of the English world-wide than any officially appointed ambassadors”. The short films The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave and their full length feature The Curse of the Were Rabbit received Academy Awards. The first short film A Grand Day Out, was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film, but lost to Creature Comforts, another animated creation of Nick Park.

The two characters appear in the monthly BeanoMAX Comic. This eventually replaced their original comic published by Titan Magazines. They are also heavily featured in the unoffIcial (though supported by Aardman Animations) free, Monthly, online magazine ‘Aardmag’.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_and_Gromit