Nick Park: "At its peak, we have around 35 animators working every day on different sets, each producing between 1-5 seconds of animation a day. We have around 200 supporting crew in the studio as well. It's a massive team effort to make a film like this. In a good week we might manage a minute of footage, which is very good going."
During the finale, as Wallace pursues Gromit and Feathers McGraw, he momentarily encounters the farmer from Mossy Bottom Farm who appears in Late Lammas (2007).
It is the first new Wallace & Gromit film to be released since the passing of Wallace's original voice, Peter Sallis, in 2017.
When Wallace answers the door, a flat cap and blue-grey raincoat are seen hanging beside Gromit's yellow raincoat and hat. This is a tribute to Wallace's original voice actor, Peter Sallis, who wore a flat cap and raincoat in his portrayal of Norman Clegg in Vielä virtaa (1973), a series that ran until Sallis retired from acting in 2010, seven years before his death in 2017.
When attempting to access Wallace's computer, Feathers McGraw is required to complete a CAPTCHA challenge to identify images of cheese. One of the selected pictures depicts the Moon, a reference to the first film, Suurenmoinen huviretki (1989), in which Wallace and Gromit travel to the Moon in an improvised spacecraft to harvest moon cheese.
At the climax of the film there’s a sign reading "Yorkshire Border: Keep Out" on one side and "Lancashire Border: No, YOU Keep Out" on the other. Yorkshire and Lancashire are neighbouring counties with a long-standing rivalry.
The production reportedly spanned six years from initial concept to release, with filming taking fifteen months. Yet it was revealed only a little over two years before its premiere — a lead time unlike anything Aardman had previously used.
Norbot's core protocol settings are as follows:
- well-intentioned
- agreeable
- unobtrusive
- tedious
- uncouth
- slightly irritating
- a tad selfish
- surly
- ill-natured
- quite nasty
- wicked
The film was produced to mark the 30th anniversary of Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993), hence the references to that film and the return of its villain, Feathers McGraw. It was also released more than 35 years after Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out (1989), which marked the first appearance of Wallace & Gromit.
At the zoo, Feathers can be seen stroking a seal pup on his lap, an obvious homage to Blofeld's cat from the James Bond films.
On the police station noticeboard, among the various wanted posters, a request for information concerning 'Mrs Tweedy', the primary antagonist from Aardman films Chicken Run (2000) and its sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023), can be seen.
Wallace's desktop is a chaotic jumble of many unnamed folders, save for one labelled "Cheese Pics".
As Feathers head towards the Lancashire/Yorkshire border, a sign reads 'No Parkin'. Parkin is a ginger cake traditionally popular in Yorkshire.
A blue-and-yellow can labelled 'WG-40' is visible when Gromit steps into the garage and finds Norbot painting the van; it is a cheeky nod to the well-known lubricant 'WD-40', altered to mirror the initials of the show's title characters.
In his cell, Feathers McGraw conceals a bricked-up opening with a poster, directly echoing the same scene from The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which stars Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.
Some character parts were 3D-printed, such as Norbot's head.
When Gromit realises the Norbots are toiling on a large construction site in the cellar, you can briefly spot a sign that reads "Pointed hats must be worn at all times"
This film brings back Feathers McGraw, a character from the series who made his debut in the film Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993). He also featured in the video game Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo (2003).
When Gromit is tracking the garden gnomes, the locator gadget plays the same audio cues and shows the same visuals used in Batman Returns. It guides him to the penguin, Feathers McGraw, who then bolts through the sewers and makes his getaway in a small submersible with a rubber duck fastened to the periscope. In Batman - paluu (1992), The Penguin makes his escape by navigating the sewers in a gigantic rubber duck fitted with a periscope.
Anton Deck, the presenter of Up North News, is a nod to the well-known British duo Ant & Dec — who hail from Newcastle — and to their The Ant & Dec Show (1995). According to Muzz Khan on Twitter, Aardman Animations sought permission from Ant & Dec to use the Anton Deck gag; the duo approved and are even acknowledged with a special thanks in the film's credits.
It aired on BBC One and was made available on BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day 2024. It was the franchise's first television special to be released via streaming and the fourth film not given a theatrical release. However, it was screened in selected UK cinemas ahead of its television premiere.
Chief Inspector Mackintosh's retirement barge is called the Dun'Nickin'. The name is a twofold allusion: to the old custom of calling one's retirement home or boat "Dunroamin'" ('done roaming') and to the British idiom "to nick", meaning to arrest someone.
The technology depicted in the film spans several eras: many of the computers are CRT models with desk-mounted CPUs, and some feature green phosphor screens; televisions still have dials and aerials; Wallace's audio storage is on reel-to-reel tape; everyone's telephones remain rotary models (there are no mobile phones in sight); and the internet interface resembles something from Windows 98. At one point a reCAPTCHA appears — a feature that did not become commonplace until the 2010s. A freeze-frame on Norbot's specifications even lists the "Date+Time" as "vaguely in past".
Gromit is listening to Desert Island Discs when Norbot enters to recharge. Desert Island Discs is a BBC radio programme, first broadcast in 1942. On it, well-known figures discuss their lives and work through their eight favourite pieces of music. The premise imagines them marooned on a fictional island with The Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare and one luxury item of their choosing. They are also permitted to keep a single piece of music. Nick Park appeared on the programme in December 2010.
When Feathers McGraw hacks into the Norbot control system, cascading green characters are displayed on a black background, a nod to The Matrix films.
The safe's combination (the code believed to secure the blue diamond — which Feathers McGraw had actually exchanged for a rotten turnip) is 999, the same as the UK's emergency number.
The climactic sequence on the aqueduct is an obvious nod to the famous 'cliff‑hanger' finale of The Italian Job (1969).
The film's official title — "Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl" — was revealed on 6 June 2024. Prior to that, the titles "Holiday From Home", "No Way Gnome" and "Wallace & Gromit's Magic Christmas" had all been rumoured.
A short scene depicts Gromit bouncing on a trampoline; the trampoline's fabric bears the Aardman Animations logo — the studio behind the film.
Feathers is pictured resting against a crate of butter pies, a Lancashire speciality made with onions and potatoes. They are said to have originally been prepared for Good Friday, when Catholics traditionally abstain from meat. The pun is emphasised by a nod to Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly.
"Snoozy Choc" hot chocolate, which was briefly visible on an advert poster in Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993), is given to Wallace to make him drowsy.
The first Wallace & Gromit film to feature Ben Whitehead as Wallace's new voice. Whitehead had previously shared credit with the original actor Peter Sallis for certain lines in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), its video-game adaptation Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), in Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008) and the game Wallace & Gromit Snow Drift (2008), and had also stepped in for the episodic game Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures before formally taking over as Wallace's voice after Peter Sallis retired from acting in 2010.
One of the magazines on the table in Wallace's house is titled Gardens of the Galaxy, a playful nod to the Marvel film trilogy, and is edited by Alan Titchmartian, a pun on Alan Titchmarsh, the British television presenter and gardening expert.
Wallace's cheese knife, first seen in the opening of Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1995), is used by Feathers to sever a rope.
According to an interview with Nick Park, the story began as the idea for a 30-minute short about Wallace creating Norbot to help in the garden, but they couldn’t find a convincing reason for it to go wrong. Feathers was added to the plot when the team realised that his desire for revenge against the pair gave the conflict a more personal dimension, and the running time was significantly increased to allow for this.
The creators were unsure they’d be able to secure Peter Kay, as he was about to embark on a tour, but he was keen to reprise the role and very kindly made time between his gigs to record. Before they looked into it and confirmed it was possible, there was also doubt over whether they could use Mackintosh because Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) was partly owned by DreamWorks, and a different police officer had been considered early on.
Feathers McGraw hijacks a barge called the Accrington Queen, an obvious nod to Humphrey Bogart's riverboat film The African Queen (1951). Note the barge's registration reads 1951, the year The African Queen (1951) was made.
Feathers once again reveals himself to the pair in much the same fashion as in Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993), with Wallace responding in a similar way.
When Gromit is tracking the gnomes, the signal appears to approach him and then passes beneath him. This is a homage to the scene in Aliens (1986), in which Hudson is tracking the xenomorphs.
Mukherjee's noticeboard displays photographs of a number of Feathers's other disguises.
The jam contraption from Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993) has been retrofitted so it can now hurl marmalade and marmite — or, more precisely, cheesymite.
In Wallace's workshop the bench vice bears the brand name "Miami" — a playful nod to the US television series Miami Vice (1984).
On the "Norbot System Admin" screen, Norbot's motor functions are shown as "head, shoulders, knees, toes, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, H / S / K / T / K / T". Meanwhile, his performance set-up controls comprise brightness ("2 clever by 1/2"), chips ("w/everything"), input, output and "shake-it-all-about-put".
When Feathers McGraw surveys his troop of bad Norbots, it’s a nod to an Emperor Penguin at Edinburgh Zoo named Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of the Bouvet Islands, who is regularly called upon to inspect the Norwegian King's Guard at the zoo. He is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s highest-ranking penguin.
The film's end credits attribute Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D minor' to 'Wesley Dale'.
The prison sequence in which Feathers McGraw appears intent on vengeance echoes a scene from Cape Fear (1991), featuring Robert De Niro. The camera framing and accompanying score are identical.
The "Snoozy Choc" not only alludes to Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993), but also traces back to a cut gag from Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), in which Gromit would have added several spoonfuls of Snoozy Choc to Wallace's bedtime cocoa after growing tired of his constant singing. In this instance, however, it is the Norbots who give Wallace cocoa laced with Snoozy Choc, intended to knock him out so that he is not woken by all the building work going on in the basement.
In the previous Wallace & Gromit film, Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008), a missing poster showing Feathers McGraw is visible outside the zoo. Perhaps unintentionally, this detail appears to indicate that Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) is set before that film’s conclusion, which ends with McGraw escaping and still listed as missing. It also helps explain why Fluffles, the dog seen joining Wallace & Gromit at the end of Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008), does not appear in the 2024 film.
Lenny Henry, who notoriously parodied the Wallace & Gromit series in his 1995 Christmas special, appears in a brief cameo as one of the townsfolk.
At about the 48‑minute mark a rubber duck is seen bobbing on the surface; it breaks the water while fixed to the periscope of Feathers McGraw's submarine. In the opening scene of Goldfinger (1964), a duck (or other waterfowl) is swimming and rises from the water attached to the cap of James Bond's scuba suit.
When the scene is viewed through the Norbot's perspective, descriptive digital information is overlaid on his vision in much the same way as the display seen through the Terminator's eyes in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
Norbot's field of view displays a wealth of information about its surroundings, though most of it only briefly appears on-screen for a few frames. For example, when it scans Gromit's garden, the tag "organic matter: TREE" is interpreted as "root-based organism" and "shade provider", and the label "asymmetrical wooden structure: GARDEN SHED" is rendered as "permanent arachnid dwelling" and "nonsystematic storage facility".
Norbot is revealed to be a genuine von Neumann machine — a self-replicating device endowed with a broad array of general-purpose capabilities. This can be regarded as an homage to the Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
Norbot's operating centre — essentially his brain — is made up of three sections: the Memory Centre, the Language Centre and the Garden Centre
A submarine partly constructed from bathtubs, travelling through the sewers, had previously appeared in the Wallace & Gromit comic Catch of the Day.
Feathers McGraw's act of smashing the teapot appears to be an homage to Ai Weiwei's "Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn"
Feathers McGraw is referenced in every film released between his first appearance in Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993) and his return in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024): - In Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1995), the wall of Gromit's prison cell from when he was wrongly incarcerated bears the graffiti 'Feathers Was Here'. - In Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), a figure resembling Feathers McGraw can be seen perched atop Tottington Hall at one point in the film. - In Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008), the zoo's entrance features a poster about a Missing Penguin, which may well be Feathers McGraw.
During the sequence in which Feathers turns around whilst playing the pipe organ, you may spot a mug bearing the inscription 'World's Best Boss.' This is a neat nod to Steve Carell's famous mug from The Office (2005), where his character, Michael Scott, proudly displays the same slogan.
When the Lewis Newplast factory, which supplied the clay used by Aardman Animation, shut its doors in 2023, Aardman bought up a stockpile of the material to ensure they had sufficient clay to complete production of the film.
Thanks to advances in CGI, Aardman — who had previously avoided depicting water because it is so difficult to animate — were finally able to include liquids. As a Wallace & Gromit picture, naturally one of the most important liquids to feature was tea.
One factor behind the lengthy gap between Wallace & Gromit films was the deteriorating health of Peter Sallis. Another was Nick Park's growing disillusionment with DreamWorks Animation; he openly voiced his frustration at working with them on Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and their continual production notes.
Wallace and Gromit's job in this film involves working with garden gnomes. In the The Simpsons (1989) episode Angry Dad: The Movie (2011), which was first broadcast 13 years earlier, the pair were parodied in a film titled "Willis and Crumble", in which the characters likewise worked with garden gnomes.
The scene in which Feathers McGraw is depicted playing the organ in his submarine is a nod to a similar sequence in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), where Captain Nemo plays the organ aboard the Nautilus.
This film and The Finale (2024) were the most-watched programmes on Christmas Day 2024, each drawing an audience of 20 million — the biggest viewing figures seen in 20 years.
The official date displayed when the Norbot is hacked by Feathers McGraw reads "vaguely in past," highlighting the anachronism of a ReCAPTCHA appearing at a point when the same computer presents a Windows 98‑era desktop.
Production designer Matt Perry has pointed out where a nod to the epic adventures of Middle-earth crops up. In the sequence where Gromit uncovers the helper gnome and Norbot’s secret lair, the film strongly evokes Isengard. Perry explained the idea was inspired by the building of the Uruk-hai army, which is why the scene conveys that sense of sparks and industrial activity.
Merlin Crossingham began his career as an animator at Aardman. This marks his debut as a feature-film director.
Typically, voice actors record alone in the recording booth, laying down their lines. At Aardman, however, it's somewhat different: directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham choose to be present in the booth alongside the actor.
Other options available on Norbot's Morality Dial are "Pleasant" and "Boorish".
Feathers McGraw performing Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue on a church organ is a nod to the Pink Panther films. It was a trademark of Commissioner Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), who became a Bond-esque foe of Inspector Clousseau (Peter Sellers) after Clousseau's incompetence had driven him mad.
Ben Whitehead had previously provided the voices for characters in two earlier Wallace & Gromit films, portraying Mr Leaching in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Baker Bob at the beginning of Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008).
First shown on the BBC on Christmas Day 2024, it became the second-most-watched television broadcast in the UK since 2022.
The sixth Wallace & Gromit film and the second to be produced as a full-length feature.
Altogether, the Puppet Department produced 750 hands for the various Norbot puppets.
