“Brown lump of plasticine. What’s happening in the future?”
This note scribbled in the corner of a sketchbook by Morph creator Peter Lord in 1980 underpins the brilliant miracles that’ve been consistently worked by animation studio Aardman for half a century now. Shapeless blobs of modelling clay leavened into life, rising into the impish Morph, the similarly naughty Shaun the Sheep and — of course — one of comedy’s great double acts, Wallace and Gromit. Many of us might find it hard now to live without our best pals.
Inside Aardman, the Young V&A’s new show which delves into Aardman’s ineffably loveable back catalogue, will hardly need to twist arms in order to get folk in through the doors. But it also has much to live up to. So does it cut the gorgonzola? To paraphrase a certain follically-challenged inventor, it is absolutely cracking.
Styled around the production of an animation, Inside Aardman takes us step-by-step through rough scamps (Wallace was originally a moustachioed postman, and until Peter Sallis uttered the immortal word “Cheeeese”, had a far narrower face) and storyboards (ogling Nick Park’s comic book-like layout for The Wrong Trousers’ train chase is tantamount to feasting your eyes on the original draft of the denouement from Casablanca). We’re whisked through modelling workshops, original sets and props (a galleon from The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! is surprisingly hefty) and post production suites, in a setup that’s perfectly proportioned for smaller attention spans (and note: you ticket’s valid for the entirety of the run; you may well be making a return trip).
A la every Aardman animation that’s ever been made, the devil’s in the detail. There are tasty little titbits you’ll be sharing with your mates down the pub/creche. Did you know the rivets on the orange rocket ship that jettisons Wallace and Gromit to a cheesy Moon are in fact lentils? Videos starring Park and his band of magicians explain why the jokes are so darned strong (spoiler: they HAVE to be; it’s four years between the time they’re written and aired).
Crucially, Inside Aardman goes above and beyond with the hands-on stuff. While the magic’s all present and correct, so too are the trapdoors and levers making this joyful illusion all possible. Nothing is condescending; kids are invited to understand, to question, to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. On our walk-around, they were were sketching out characters, playing with the lighting in Feathers McGraw’s prison cell, recording their own stop-motion scenes and clip-clopping coconuts in the role of fledgling Foley artists. Adults: sorry to say you won’t get a look-in. But at least the next generation of animators are already busy honing their craft.
Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends, Young V&A, 12 February-15 November 2026.
All images by Londonist.
