Wallace & Gromit are back on our screens this Christmas in critically acclaimed new movie Vengeance Most Fowl.
It marks the first feature-length movie for the beloved duo since 2005's The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and the movie also marks the first full outing for Ben Whitehead as the voice of Wallace.
Whitehead worked with the late Peter Sallis on The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and has voiced Wallace since Sallis retired in 2010.
Ahead of the premiere of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl on BBC One this Christmas Day, Whitehead has now addressed taking over the role of Wallace and how he approached it.
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"There's always challenges to approach the character that someone else has done, especially given Peter's legacy. The main thing to consider is that you're not going to be able to do exactly the same as them," he said in the press notes for the new movie.
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"Nick [Park] and Merlin [Crossingham] assured me of that as well because a voice match wasn't what was required here. However, I wanted to try and take as much as I could from what Peter brought to this character, which originally was made with Peter in mind.
"I took as much as I could from Peter's character but also brought some of my own aspects and characterisations to it."
Having played Wallace in various outings outside of their movies, Whitehead is aware of what it takes to get "as close as I could to a voice match" for the character.
And he has revealed a fitting word that helped him get into the Wallace mindset.
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"In terms of trying to capture Peter's voice from before, I obviously do listen back to those and see what has gone on before, which I've been doing since I was a young boy watching A Grand Day Out," Whitehead explained.
"Now, the journey to work is good for me as I can sit on a train and watch the Wallace & Gromit films and have a real laugh and get into character. For me, 'cheese' is definitely the trigger word to help me get into character.
"I was also coached by Andrea Hazel Lewis who took the time to look at Peter's voice and the character of Wallace. For example, Wallace sometimes protrudes his tongue a little bit, so you can do a similar thing when voicing him."
You'll be able to see if you can spot the difference when the new Wallace & Gromit movie premieres this Christmas.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl premieres on Christmas Day on BBC iPlayer and BBC One at 6.10pm. It will be released globally, outside of the UK, on Netflix on January 3, 2025.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
