Aardman Rights, the newly created sales division of Aardman Animations, has concluded a number of pre-sales for its new animated half-hour special Wallace & Gromit In A Matter of Loaf and Death and the children’s series Timmy Time. The latest Wallace & Gromit adventure is currently in production for BBC One at Aardman’s Bristol studios with delivery expected this fall. Pre-sale deals were struck at MIPCOM with broadcasters including ABC in Australia, M6 in France, Super RTL in Germany, YLE in Finland, NRK in Norway, Zapp in the Netherlands and SVT in Sweden.
Aardman has also secured broadcast commitments for Timmy Time, its first animated series for preschoolers, with ABC in Australia, TF1 in France, DRTV in Denmark, YLE in Finland, NRK in Norway and SVT in Sweden. Currently in production, the series of 52 10-minute installments has already been pre-bought by CBeebies in the U.K. for debut in 2009, and has been picked up by Disney Channels worldwide, including the U.S.
In A Matter of Loaf and Death, Wallace & Gromit have started a new bread-baking business called Top Bun and have converted 62 West Wallaby Street into a granary with ovens, robotic kneading arms and an old-fashioned windmill on the roof. Although business is booming, Gromit is concerned by the news that a dozen local bakers have disappeared this year. Meanwhile, Wallace is distracted by beautiful bread enthusiast Piella Bakewell. Realizing his master’s life is in jeopardy, Gromit turns sleuth to solve the escalating murder mystery. The special is written by and directed by Nick Park, collaborating again with Bob Baker, co-writer of the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit shorts The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave.
A Close Shave spawned the popular children’s television series Shaun the Sheep, which has in turn generated a spin-off in Timmy Time. The stop-motion animated show aimed at both boys and girls contains no dialogue, but features a variety of animal noises and visual comedy. Aardman’s Jackie Cockle is creative producer and supervising director. Miles Bullough is exec producer.
