Aardman has created six new films for the BBC’s Things We Love campaign, which provide an entertaining insight into the UK’s most loved BBC content. In the series of heart-warming animated films, real BBC audience member’s voices and unscripted conversations are matched with charming stop-motion clay characters, directed by Rich Webber.
The dialogue in the films is the audience members’ own descriptions of things they love on the BBC. The families in the films were found through the BBC’s audience engagement programme, which interviews hundreds of people across the UK every year on their views about the BBC to ensure audiences are at the heart of everything we do.
The three 30-second films launched on 7 March include:
- A family of Casualty, News and Sport mad hamsters from Port Talbot in Wales;
- A family of foxes from Birmingham who can’t get enough MasterChef
- A father and son canine duo from Paisley near Glasgow who want to Race Across The World together.
The further three films representing other parts of the UK and demonstrating the value of the BBC to real audiences will be released later this spring.
“We have a long-standing relationship with Aardman, and as ever their brilliantly distinctive creative flair is stamped all over these charming films. I think Aardman has perfectly captured the essence of the affection we know audiences across the UK feel for our programmes, and I hope they make everyone smile,” said BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore.
“Aardman is very proud of our long-standing relationship with the BBC, so, we were delighted to revive our much-loved Creature Comforts’ format for its Things We Love campaign,” said Aardman chief creative director Sarah Cox. “The magic and joy of this type of animation is that all the dialogue is unscripted and selected from real conversations with members of the public from across the UK – and that’s where so much of the warmth and the humour and the storytelling comes from. The interviews inspire the Claymation animal character scenarios. We hope that viewers love these new creatures as much as we do.”
The first three films will broadcast on BBC One before The One Show tonight, 8 March and will appear across the BBC throughout 2024. The films will also run in cinema, on You Tube and across social media.
BBC One showcased a behind the scenes look at how the films were made and introduced audiences to some of the voices behind the films during One Show on 7 March at 7 pm.
