Park: 'New Wallace & Gromit a homecoming'

Nick Park has said that making a new Wallace And Gromit short for the BBC felt like "a homecoming".

The animator revealed that he chose to direct the upcoming 30-minute A Matter Of Loaf And Death because it did not require as big a time commitment as Chicken Run and Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.

He explained: "I've done two-feature films back-to-back and each one has taken four years to do, at least. It's like a homecoming really, it's nice to be back with the BBC again. I just felt like I needed to get ideas out quicker and a half-hour format seems a lot more humane."

Park acknowledged that he was able to complete the new film in record time thanks to a large team of animators.

"The first Wallace And Gromit film A Grand Day Out, which was largely single-handed, took seven years to make - this one took seven months," he said.

A Matter Of Loaf And Death, which sees the Aardman Animation duo run their own bakery called Top Bun, airs this Christmas on BBC One.