Nick Park makes a brave decision over WALLACE AND GROMIT

Some might see yesterday's news about the WALLACE AND GROMIT franchise returning to the small screen after only one big screen venture as being a step backwards for Aardman Studio's. I won't dispute that fully but what I will say is that Nick Park has made a very brave decision by doing so and I think for the long term longevity of the series it's absolutely the right thing to do. They tried their big screen outing with WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT and whilst it worked for a while and had some genius moments, I really don't think the stop motion technology or the characters really suit a full length feature. 30 minute shorts or episodes, are quicker to make and produce... and Aardman are superb at storytelling in such a small time frame, that it makes them so exciting and worthwhile to watch. WALLACE AND GROMIT suit the 30 minute time frame, there is no doubt about it.

Variety reported yesterday that the BBC will showcase TROUBLE AT' MILL as their big feature program next Christmas which will re-unite Park with Bob Barker, the writers of THE WRONG TROUSERS and A CLOSE SHAVE. The movie will see Wallace and Gromit open a bakery, with Wallace of course falling in love once again this time with the awesomely named Piella Bakewell. The film will be a murder mystery, with Gromit doing much of the investigation. Their's a nice video message with the news announcement from Nick Park and our first look at Piella which you can see by clicking here. It will probably be worth book-marking the page because the guys will be keeping a blog of all the latest happenings and developments over there.

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. 'Trouble at' Mill' will be so much quicker to make, and I can't wait to get back into production," Park said. "It's nice to be out of that feature film pressure now," Park told the BBC. "I'm making this for myself again and the people who love Wallace and Gromit."

We all know what happened with the 5 year Dreamworks deal that was cut prematurely after the failure of last year's FLUSHED AWAY and it would have been easy for Nick Park to give up on WALLACE AND GROMIT then and deal with new characters and material but he's made a brave decision to bring them back to the small screen. British T.V. welcomes you back with open arms guys. Really looking forward to TROUBLE AT' MILL.