Now, a new exhibition will take visitors behind the scenes of the animation studio which brought us classic Wallace & Gromit movies such as The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave, and last year’s Vengeance Most Fowl.
Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends runs at Young V&A in East London from February 12, 2026.
With a new Shaun the Sheep movie due out next year, the interactive show will explore the painstaking stop-motion animation used to bring Aardman’s iconic characters and worlds to life.
As part of the show children can learn the techniques and skills used by animators – trying their hand at storyboarding their ideas, designing characters, experimenting with lighting a set, and creating Live Videos.
Also on show will be more than 150 models, sets, puppets, props and storyboards from Aardman’s archives including some of the best loved characters on British screens from Morph, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep and the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit feature films.
The family-friendly exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the studio which was founded in Bristol in the 1970s. The company name comes from a nerdy Superman character created for the BBC programme Vision On.
Curators at Young V&A in Bethnal Green hope the exhibition will explore the storytelling and craft that brings these worlds from the sketchbook to the screen – from idea development to storyboard, model making to production.
Among the highlights are of the exhibition are early development sketches for Morph, character ideas for Wallace & Gromit, a hand-drawn storyboard from The Wrong Trousers train chase, and the intrepid duo’s motorbike and sidecar from Vengeance Most Fowl .
Fans can watch clips from Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024), Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023), Robin Robin (2019), The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012) and Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out (1989) as well as getting up close to early examples of stop-motion animation from the V&A’s collection.
Alex Newson, Chief Curator, Young V&A, said: “Aardman quite literally began on the kitchen table, when two young school friends started experimenting with animations at home.
“Even though Aardman is now one of the most successful animation studios in the world, its films still have the same handcrafted feel. It is this ‘thumbiness’, as they refer to it, that makes the films so charming and well loved.
“This is also what make the story so great for children. While Aardman’s films are now made by large and highly skilled teams it’s also possible for anyone to have a go at making their own stop motion films at home with minimal equipment and experience.”
Ngaio Harding-Hill from Aardman, said the exhibition “offers a wonderful opportunity to shine a light on the creativity and craftsmanship behind the animation process – from initial sketch through to post-production”.
“We hope that through this exhibition, the joy and wonder of our craft will inspire the next generation of storytellers, directors, model-makers and animators.”
Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends runs at Young V&A in Cambridge Heath Road from February 12, 2026. Tickets on sale now at www.vam.ac.uk
