Comedian Peter Kay has been announced as part of the voice cast for BBC One's new Wallace and Gromit film which will air this Christmas.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl sees Kay return as Chief Inspector (formerly PC) Mackintosh, alongside Ben Whitehead as Wallace, the eccentric, cheese-loving inventor (who was originally voiced by Peter Sallis). Kay's character was previously featured in the film Wallace & Gromit the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
The new cast includes Lauren Patel (Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Lloyd of the Flies), Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentleman, Inside No.9), with cameos from Diane Morgan (Afterlife, Motherland), Adjoa Andoh (Bridgerton, Invictus) and Lenny Henry (Three Little Birds, The Lord of the Rings).
Teasing the plot, the BBC says: "Vengeance Most Fowl sees Gromit's growing concern as Wallace becomes over-dependent on his inventions — which proves justified when Wallace invents a 'smart gnome' that seems to develop an evil mind of its own. But who or what could be the cause? As events begin to spiral out of control, it's up to Gromit to put aside his qualms and battle sinister forces, or Wallace may never be able to invent again!"
The 70-minute film, which sees the return of the iconic penguin supervillain Feathers McGraw, will take center stage in BBC One's Christmas TV line-up in the UK, while it will be shown on Netflix in the rest of the world.
Creator of Wallace and Gromit and director of Vengeance Most Fowl, Nick Park, says: "I’d had the idea of a film about garden gnomes turning bad for more than a decade, but I could never work out what made them bad. It occurred to me that the single most asked question I get when I meet fans is, will the penguin Feathers McGraw, Wallace and Gromit's original antagonist from The Wrong Trousers 30 years ago, ever return?
"We’ve had fun bringing him back in cameo capacities but now, three decades on, it felt like the right time. Then it hit me: What if Feathers was involved with these gnomes? We’re hoping that this film will appeal to fans of 'Gnome Noir' everywhere and that people will be gratified when they see what Feathers has been up to since The Wrong Trousers."
You can watch previous Wallace & Gromit adventures on BBC iPlayer right now.
