Aardman Animations, the Oscar-winning animation studio responsible for the Wallace & Gromit films, is producing a 13-episode television series based on their Oscar-winning short Creature Comforts.

The original Creature Comforts netted Aardman its first Oscar, for a delightfully witty film in which real-life interviews with children and elderly citizens (who were not aware of how the recordings would eventually be used) were lip-synched to Aardman animation sequences of zoo animals expressing their opinions of their living conditions.

The new series is reported to use the same techniques of real-life interviews with human subjects who will only be made aware of the usage of the interviews after they are complete. Aardman director Nick Park says, "The technique of putting real-life interviews into the mouths of plasticine characters will remain entertaining as long as there are interesting people to interview, and there are."

Hear, hear!

Unfortunately, those of us in America who do not get ITV1 (which is the vast majority, including me) will have to wait for it to appear on an American network, American BBC, or DVD. Pity.

Until then, we can look forward to the Wallace & Gromit feature film, and the upcoming Internet-only Wallace's Workshop films.