This has ‘great Christmas present’ written all over it.

Comprising the complete second series of Aardman Animation’s beloved programme (those behind the wonderful Wallace & Gromit), it also features a special to get you in the festive spirit and is garlanded with enough extras to keep everyone quiet after the turkey.

The episodes themselves may only be short, yet they’re practically perfect. Amusing, yet in a very British way, the delight lies in the marriage between the lovable claymation characters and the eccentric voiceovers from “the Great British public” themselves – my favourites are the geezer-boy dogs, the funny little Sharpei and its puppy and especially the grumpy old bats (‘What do you think about speed cameras?’ ‘What did you say? Cucumbers?’).

The excellent extras feature that rarest of things, an actually fascinating behind-the-scenes documentary, that takes you from the original interviews with the public (many of whom bear striking and somewhat scary resemblances to their claymation incarnations) to the painstaking business of drawing the characters, creating the puppets and producing an episode – a journey that takes an obvious amount of dedication and love. All this shows in the finished product, which is utterly charming and well worth your forking out for this lovely DVD.

-Rachel Read

Watch a clip now:
Fast Connection
Medium Connection
Slow Connection

(c) and TM Aardman Animations Ltd 2006. All Rights Reserved