Doctor Who Vs. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

That great British inventor and

cheese enthusiast known only

as Wallace (of West Wallaby

Street in Wigan) and his anthro-pomorphic pet dog Gromit first

appeared in the BBC animated

short A Grand Day Out in 1989.

The plasticine duo were created

by Nick Park (born 1958) way

back in 1973, and brought to

life by Aardman Animations

(based in Bristol since 1972).

Three more 'claymation' TV

adventures followed, and in

2005, Wallace and Gromit made their full-length film debut in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, released by Dreamworks.

The Wrong Trousers (1993), A Close Shave (1995), and this film all won

Academy Awards, whilst A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008) received

Park's fifth BAFTA prize.

Upto Vengeance Most Fowl, Wallace had always been voiced by Peter

Sallis (1921-2017), and it was intended that Gromit should talk too -

Peter Hawkins (one of the original Dalek and Cybermen voice artists

 on classic Doctor Who from 1963) was to provide his voice, but this

proved  too difficult to realise.

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was co-written by Bob Baker, writing

partner of Dave Martin (1935-2007), and they were nicknamed the

Bristol Boys by the Doctor Who production teams. Together they

scripted nine TV serials (from The Claws of Axos to Nightmare of

Eden), and created K9.

Shown on BBC1 today, the film (preceded by the 2015 documentary

A Grand Night In) featured the voices of Ralph Fiennes, Helena

Bonham Carter, John Thomson, Geraldine McEwan, Liz Smith, Mark

Gatiss, and ten Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Sallis played Elric Penley in The Ice Warriors, and was due to appear in Enlightenment as Striker
• Peter Kay (PC Mackintosh) was Victor Kennedy [the Abzorbaloff] in Love & Monsters
• Nicholas [John] Smith (Hedges) was Wells in The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• Edward [Harry] Kelsey (Growbag) was Slave Buyer in (episode 2 of) The Romans, Resno in The Power of the Daleks, and Edu in The Creature from the Pit
• [Terence] Dicken Ashworth (Mr. Mulch) was Sezon in Timelash
• Vincent Ebrahim (Caliche) voiced Shardul Khan for Big Finish's The Emerald Tiger (2012)
• Christopher Fairbank (additional voice) voiced Pierre Arronax for The Wreck of the Titan (2010), Doc Baroque for The Scapegoat (2009), and Marc Brunel for Iron Bright (2018), then appeared as Fenton in Flatline
• ADR recordist Robert Edwards was a mixer on Hide, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, The Crimson Horror, Nightmare in Silver, The Name of the Doctor and Space and Time
• Peter Gleaves was also ADR mixer on The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar
• assistant cameraman Adam Lincoln was clapper loader on Blink