A Matter Of Loaf And Death

Funny, fantastically inventive, warm and just wonderful, this W&G adventure was the most watched TV programme last Christmas. It's packed with multiple layers of jokes and plenty of fine visual gags, including delightful homages to movies - from The Matrix to Ghost - and it loses none of its charm with a repeat viewing. The ever resourceful pair are now earning their living as bakers, and once more Wallace's (Peter Sallis) soft heart gets him into trouble when he falls for Bake-o-Lite girl Piella Bakewell (voiced by Sally Lindsay). But she's trouble, and it's up to Gromit - whose gloriously expressive eyebrows say everything - to save the day.

iPlayer users notch up 8m requests in Christmas week

The BBC's statistics for the iPlayer this Christmas aren't too surprising, but the online catch-up service has clearly established itself as a mainstream alternative to scheduled TV. Wallace and Gromit's A Matter of Loaf and Death was, of course, the most popular show and contributed to 8m programme requests to the iPlayer in the seven days between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.

I was disappointed with Wallace & Gromit. Great animation, some fun moments, imaginative action scenes, a few good in-jokes (especially Ghost and Aliens), but it all felt too insular, predictable and repetitive to me. Wallace gets another love-interest, there's another killer on the loose (human this time), Wallace just gets dopier and needs rescuing again. The only notable change was having the obligatory dog turn out not to be the villain's accomplice. After the Curse Of The Were-Rabbit feature-length movie, Loaf & Death felt like a step backwards for Nick Park. Why not create some new characters, instead of sticking to the safe bet of W&G? Oh well, 15 million people watched, which will hopefully bankroll a BBC-funded movie before Peter Sallis snuffs it.

A plot so thin Bob Geldof would be inspired to write a song about it and rally the whole world to a benefit concert, characterisation so crude it makes Og the Neanderthal's cave paintings resemble Van Gogh, dialogue so clumsy it seems to have been arranged with all the artful skill of the shards of a shattered plane falling from the sky. We adored it.

Wallace and Gromit top TV ratings

A new show by animated characters Wallace and Gromit was the most-watched TV programme on Christmas Day.

'Wallace & Gromit' leads Xmas Day ratings

A new episode of Wallace & Gromit was by far the winner of the Christmas Day ratings, according to overnight figures. A Matter Of Loaf and Death pulled in 14.25m (53.3%) to BBC One between 8.30pm and 9pm. It peaked with a massive 15.88m (58.1%) at the end.

Film Review: Wallace & Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death

It is Christmas - that time of year when television broadcasters try to find the one thing that will get them the biggest ratings. The BBC has always been best at this. First it was Morecambe and Wise, then it was Only Fools and Horses, and now it is another double act, between one man and his anthropomorphic dog.

Telegraph Review

Unlike Wallace and Gromit's bread, something here felt slightly stale. The plot ticked along as if on rails. (See part two of the article)

Whether it is the scheduling proximity of this short to the feature-length The Curse of the Were-Rabbit or simply because you expect such marvellous things from Nick Park and Aardman Animations, there's something underwhelming about the latest outing for one man and his dog. It's lovingly crafted, replete with rewarding little details, references and homage (the pair's bakery is Top Bun) and Sally Lindsay's Piella Bakewell is suitably monstrous, but the story - of a serial killer (or possibly cereal killer) who is battering bakers to death with their own rolling pins - fails to really fly, not least because it's only half an hour long. Still, it's a sweet and wholesome distraction between the woe in EastEnders.

Mirror Preview

The programme is full of clever homages, everything from the repeatedly lampooned potters' wheel scene in Ghost to Sigourney Weaver battling the 'mother' alien in Aliens.