Peter Lord recently spoke to RadioTimes.com about the history of Aardman Animations.
When it comes to iconic Aardman Animations characters, after Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep isn’t far behind.
First introduced in the Wallace & Gromit short A Close Shave back in 1996, Shaun had his first full solo outing in 2007, with the first season of his self-titled spin-off show.
Since then, there have been over 150 episodes, two movies, an adorable spin-off – Timmy Time – for toddlers, video games and live theatre.
Shaun has even been to space, having been one of the lucky passengers on Artemis 1 back in 2022, as part of the European Space Agency‘s work.
While it’s clear now how remarkably universal the fusion of Aardman’s warm humour with the everyday farmyard antics is, not everyone was sure that the studio could pull off the strong, silent approach in the beginning.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com during a recent in-depth chat about the studio’s 50-year history, Aardman co-founder Peter Lord revealed that not everyone was sure about the mischievous mute sheep at the beginning.
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“There were naysayers with Shaun the Sheep,” he explained. “There were people that said, ‘You can’t make a series without any words, you know, that’s not possible.’
“And then subsequently they said, ‘You can’t make a movie with characters that don’t say any words!’ And in both cases, we did, and people loved it.”
According to the Science and Media Museum, Shaun the Sheep has actually gone on to become Aardman’s most successful animated character in the history of the company, having been broadcast in over 170 different countries, while stage shows of the farm have been put on in the likes of Cairo, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In Japan, an exhibition set within the world of Shaun the Sheep garnered over 30,000 people in just five days. Little sheep, big audience.
“Had you asked them, ‘Do you want a series without any words in?’ they may not have said yes,” Lord continued. “But when they see it, when they see the potential – that’s the joy of art, isn’t it?”
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is now streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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