Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Live Christmas Spectacular with Wallce & Gromit, Nick Park, and Merlin Crossingham

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Our Christmas Spectacular, recorded live at London’s Prince Edward Theatre is now available in your ears! On our festive guestlist this week we have Wallce & Gromit creator Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, who co-direct the famous plasticine pair’s latest adventure Vengeance Most Fowl. They talk us through what happened when Aardman went noir for this festive film treat, share stop motion secrets, and tell us why it was the right time to bring back dastardly glove-headed supervillain Feathers McGraw. Check out our socials for photos of the real A-Listers on the bill though—actual Wallace and actual Gromit, who also joined us onstage. They were a little shy on the mic... Plus a flying visit from someone we’re always happy to being saying hello to—Jason Isaacs himself! If you were one of our fabulous, talented and exceptionally good-looking live audience members then we’ve got some backstage extras in this episode for you too. London cinema tour guide extraordinaire Nigel Smith gives Simon and Mark the lowdown on our venue the Prince Edward’s history as a Cinerama. Plus a bonus backstage review of ‘The Bibi Files’—Alexis Bloom’s documentary expose on Benajamin Netanyahu and the corruptions scandals surrounding his government. Hear Mark’s take on ‘Queer’—Luca Guadagnino’s much-anticipated adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel, starring Daniel Craig as the autobiographical lead William Lee. And—from one former Bond to another—he also reviews ‘From Roger Moore With Love’, a charming celebration of the eyebrow-arching national treasure. You listeners bust out your film-buff smarts too, as two of our live audience take to the stage for a game of ‘(Simon and) Markstermind’... Timecodes (for Vanguardistas listening ad-free): Bibi Files Review: 08:32 Queer Review: 24:04 From Roger Moore with Love Review: 39:26 Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham Interview: 48:16 You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [e-mail] And to find out more about Sony’s new show Origins with Cush Jumbo, click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh hey, well it's Simon and Mark here, ready to sprinkle a little extra cheer into your season with something to keep your holidays merry and secure. That's right, loyal listeners know that our favourite little helper NordVPN gives you safe, speedy access to content in over 111 countries. The ultimate digital stocking stuffer. NordVPN keeps your online activity wrapped up tight with encryption, built-in threat protection and even dark web alerts. So you're safe from sneaky cyber-grinches and for extra holiday cheer, you can use it on up to 11 devices so the whole family can stay protected.

But Simon, most importantly, it means that wherever I am this Christmas, I can watch the best Christmas movie ever. description right now. Well welcome to a slightly different performance as far as Mark is concerned, and slightly different performance as far as I can say, because we're not in our normal, luxuriously appointed homes. We're actually in the theatre. We're in the West End. We're playing in the West End, live in the West End. We've made it to the West End.

How do you get to the West End? You've got to practice. Yeah, so we've got a big show coming up, and it's all brought to you in association with Mubi, who we talk about a lot, the curated streaming service, the place to discover ambitious films by visionary filmmakers. Mark, we know you're a massive fan of The Substance. Love The Substance. Distributed by MUBI. Yes.

And streaming there now. So before we get too spectacular, tell us about a couple of the other titles that you've loved. Well, The Substance we've talked about a lot. And as I said, I think it's probably my favourite film of the year. We're right up at the end of the year now. So? Well, The Substance, we've talked about a lot, and as I said, I think it's probably my favourite film of the year. We're right up at the end of the year now, so I think it's, yeah, absolutely. There's a brilliant Bertrand Bernalho film called The Beast with the gorgeous George McKay, which when we were reviewing it, I said it's one of those films that you think this absolutely shouldn't work, and yet somehow it does.

And it's one of the most remarkable films I've seen this year, that's streaming on Mubi. And also Hoard, which was the debut feature from Luna Carl Moon who I did an interview with on stage and it's a really really striking Debut it's really cinematic. It's got a really particular vision to it and this is classic kind of movie fare This is cutting-edge stuff from the kind of filmmakers who are doing really exciting, interesting work. Toby Beach House Gold Special 40% rum with spices. OK, well if you do a good job... A little sharpness on...

Yeah, you can have one at a half time. Maybe. We've got some guests coming up, we're not quite sure who's going to turn up. But we are going to be talking about Wallace and Gromit, and we do have Wallace and Gromit. We also have Nick Park, who's going to be with us, so lots of exciting stuff there. And if you hear weird stagey stuff, that's because it's coming from the stage. And who knows which kind of movie style, what kind of stage directions you're going to overhear. We're in a dressing room, they've literally got a speaker that's connected to the stage

so that we can tell what's going on. And it's just giving us weird panto noises at the moment. Well, it might be better than what we do, to be honest. We are going to be finding out who's traveled the furthest. It may well be as it turns out that Camden is the answer. But we've got an email here from, now I'm going to say it's Hannes Ollí Agustsson. Very good. Long time listener, first time emergency mailer, writing to you from Frosty Iceland. And I just wanted to chip into the

conversation on who had traveled the furthest to see the show. Okay. Okay. Some context. I'm a lifelong lover of cinema since I was a young boy and watch films that went way over my head from quite an early age. I was always fascinated by the actors particularly, and was fortunate to be accepted to Iceland's prestigious arts university to study acting. I've been working as a struggling actor since 2009, which makes it sound like there's a specific role struggling actor. He applied for the job and he's got it. But he's done a bit of

film work mostly here in Iceland. And then Hannes says, my love of cinema was always there and in later years became even stronger. In 2017, a friend of mine, an Icelandic resident of England, recommended your show to me. And I was instantly hooked to your delightful witterings. I've been a Vanguard Easter from, as you can tell Icelandic folk have great English. And particularly a Vanguard Easter from day one with your new setup. Your insightful and entertaining film commentary stoked the flames of my film passions. Thank you.

I love the fact that you pointed at me whilst you were reading that particular bit out. Yes. And a huge influence on my finally pursuing an education in film studies. I am currently studying for an MA degree in film studies at the University of Iceland, loving every minute of it. Consider then how delighted I was when in the span of a few weeks, a couple of years ago, I had two wonderful personal experiences during my listening to Your Good Selves. Right? One, when Mark reviewed an Icelandic film and I had a significant role in it, and it

was Pictors Film of the Week. The film was The County, and I was so pleased that Mark liked it. Imagine my delight when a few shows later, Mark spontaneously quoted a line of mine from another quite big Netflix film I was in. Anyway, so when I heard about your live Christmas special, I thought to myself, why not? I got myself a ticket and I am hopefully now watching your good selves live. So this is my bid for the Covertick Cushion. Thank you so much for the mentions and your fantastic program. Tickety-tonk, with Bluehead Feminists, and play Yaya Ding Dong.

That's from Hannes Olli, who's in Iceland. So we may well hear him shout from the rooftops. And I've just been shown a photograph of him, and I think he is actually the guy who says play Yaya Ding Dong. Oh, right. Yes, that is who that is. I'm recognizing him immediately as the man in the bar scene from the Eurovision movie

in which the key line is play yai yai ding dong. If anyone has travelled further than him, I would be very surprised. So he may well be walking away with the cushion. Excellent. What is the cushion? I can't remember what the cushion is. It's a cushion with a picture of our faces on it. Oh, that's right.

Which was given to us in lieu of an award, which was like saying, you could have an award or we could give you a picture of yourself to put your bottom on. So it's a lovely thing. Anyway, maybe that's going to wing its way to Iceland. Very nice. OK, so joining us now is Nigel Smith. We've mentioned him a few times on the pod in recent weeks. He's been doing his Hollywood Comes to London walk this morning.

Nigel, hello. Hi, Simon. How are you? I'm very well. How Comes to London Walk this morning. Nigel, hello. Hi Simon. How are you? I'm very well. How did the tour go this morning? What happened? The tour was very, very good. I think the majority of the people who were on the walking tour this morning are coming to this show. Excellent. So that's just the majority.

Not all of them. There were maybe one or two who had other plans. Maybe they couldn't get a ticket, given it's all out. Yeah, that's what it was. That is very true. So tell us about that particular tour and how it's emerged from all the other tours that you do. So the tour that I did this morning is called Hollywood Comes to London.

So we walk around the cinemas past and present of the West End, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus. And why it's called Hollywood Comes to London is because one of the things that's surprising to me when I start researching it is how many of those cinemas were actually set up by Hollywood Studios. So Empire Leicester Square, where this morning they were setting up for the premiere

of Sonic the Hedgehog 3. That was opened by MGM Studios in the 1920s. The Warner, now The View, another great example of Hollywood Studio in having a presence in the center of London. So how showbiz is the center of London? Very showbiz. The showbiz West End.

And obviously, what's so great about all of these stories is you get these amazing premieres. Empire Lester Square is a great example where you have, where all the royal performances are. I show a photo on the tour from 1950s where Marilyn Monroe is meeting the Queen, Queen Elizabeth II. They were the same age, which is always an amazing little bit of a tidbit. And we also talk about in the 1960s when Charlie Chaplin came back to London

with Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren. Can we just do a little bit on where we are? Because this theatre that we are doing this show from is actually a very famous old cinema, isn't it? It is. So, the Prince Edward Theatre started life as a traditional theatre in the 1930s before becoming a casino, the London Casino in the 40s after the war. And then it got converted into the very first Cinerama cinema in London, which is this ridiculous, wide-screen process with three different cameras,

kind of the IMAX of its day. The 4DX even, of its day. And you brought along this fantastic poster, and this is very moving to me. This is a poster for Silent Running, playing at the Casino Cinerama on Compton Street, which is where we are now. This is where I actually first saw Silent Running, one of my favourite movies of all time.

Here, right here. And I only know this because you've told me. And the other thing is about when you'd have come to see it, time here, right here, and I only know this because you've told me. The other thing is about when you'd have come to see it, and what's amazing about when we talk about these old cinemas is you'd have seen it with probably about a thousand other people. And I think that's the other thing that people can't get their heads around. And the programme, it looks like kind of specially made films.

The Atom Smasher, the Temple Dance, Niagara Falls, the Canals of Venice, the Gathering of the Clans. These were particularly chosen and filmed maybe specifically. They were filmed using this special Cinerama process. So you had three projectors running simultaneously. So it was this immersive, wide screen. And it was the sort of thing where you ride her on a roller coaster. Kind of fairground ride types of travel logs, all of that sort of stuff.

So not narrative, but exciting things to experience with a thousand other people. Nigel, where can people find out more about your walks? People can find out the walks on my website which is called memorypalaces.co.uk Nigel Smith, thank you very much indeed. There'll be film reviews when we're on stage, but we don't have to wait till then. Yes, so here's a documentary, The BB Files, which is by Alexis Bloom, who was a director of Divide and Conquer, the story of Roger Ailes, and more recently Catching Fire, the Anita Pallenberg documentary.

So this documentary follows the charges of bribery and fraud against Benjamin Netanyahu. And it's built in large part of never before seen interrogation footage that was leaked to the filmmakers during the investigation of the bribery and fraud charges. So it's interviews taken by the police, interviewing Netanyahu, interviewing his wife, interviewing his aides. Also, interviewing other people involved in the case, including on Milchen, the Hollywood producer, and answering questions about providing Netanyahu and his family with crates of champagne and boxes of expensive cigars, gifts that were essentially given in return for political

favors. It also has a key interview with an Israeli journalist, Raviv Drukh, who was a critic of Netanyahu, who is one of the film's producers. What the film does is it paints a very damning portrait of a leader who is surrounded by people who gain his ear by offering him things, by offering him gifts. Gifts is in inverted commas because quite regularly these people are asked, well, did they ask for this or did you just give it? They said, well, you know, we knew that that's what we had to do. That was the system. Sometimes they would even tell us this particularly expensive bit of jewelry, that's what we needed.

So when you see the interview footage of Netanyahu, he's high handed. He, you know, he says he doesn't remember anything. They say it's one point, you know, 90% of Netanyahu, he's high-handed, he says he doesn't remember anything. They say at one point, 90% of your answers is, I don't remember. And his other answer is, well, even if it happened, what does it matter? His wife Sarah is incredibly imperious, gets very angry, basically saying that they deserve these things, they have such hard lives, what does it matter if they get given some gifts. Worse, the documentary sort of follows the trail of all of this and suggests that the current political turmoil is effectively being used by Netanyahu to escape from prosecution and prison. So it follows this story about having refused to step down in 2019,

he ends up having to deal with extreme right wingers, takes his eye off the ball as far as defense is concerned. Then of course you get the terrible events of October the 7th, then you get the ongoing war. And what the documentary argues is, well, actually what all of that does is take away from his own political struggles. And the obvious comparison is with Trump. As everybody always said, Trump isn't running for reelection, he's running to stay out of

prison. So it's using that kind of political power, using the current turmoil to protect yourself. I mean, it's really sobering stuff, not least because you're seeing interviews with people. At one point in one of the interviews, somebody says, if this ever gets out, my career is toast. So you feel like you're watching stuff that's genuinely, really kind of quite alarming footage of people being interviewed about an ongoing case. The other thing about it is it's never polemical. What it does is it doesn't tell you this is what you have

to think. It just lays out the evidence, which I have to say is pretty damning and leaves you to make your own conclusions about it. But I think it would be very, very hard to come away from watching this documentary thinking that Netanyahu is a squeaky clean politician who is acting in the best interests of everyone other than himself. Okay, emails to correspondence at comanamo.com. Chris Morgan in Oakland, California. Qualifications, long-term listener, first-time emergency mailer, logger of 1,609 films,

according to Letterboxd. Okay? I was shocked to hear Mark mention Bad Boy Bubby as the last film you can remember walking out of, given his affection for horror cinema. This 1993 film has a special place in my heart because I now realise I used it as a test of friendship, whether that be dragging my new UCL friends to a threadbare cinema in North London in lieu of the pub or inviting co-workers in California over for cheap wine and a 13-inch television. The movie was never cited as a reason for ending a friendship with me, perhaps because it's so delightfully quotable. For those who are curious, it does indeed have a few seconds of cat cruelty and also explicit Oedipal content early on. But for the bulk of its runtime, it's an often comedic road movie about a kind man-child who

ultimately finds a happier place in the world. I mean, I haven't seen this film, so therefore I haven't looked at it. Well, neither have I, because I walked out of it. But I think, Chris, when you say, okay, it does have a few seconds of cat cruelty, at that point I'm going, okay, well, that's it. I mean, how many seconds do you need for it to be something that is unacceptable? Weirdly enough, this actually became a particular bugbear for the BBFC because there was a question about whether the cat being wrapped very tightly in, as I remember, it's cellophane, was actually

cruel. And there was a long discussion about how when cats are being sedated, this is what you use and they don't find it horribly unpleasant. There's a bit before with a piece of string. So I know that the BBFC investigated this thoroughly. And the BBFC came up with a very complete argument about why this was or wasn't good. I just wasn't having it.

I'm just like, I'm sorry. If you can't tell this story without tormenting a cat, I'm not interested. So I haven't seen the rest of Bad Boy Bobby. I know from other people who have that they've liked it very much. I mean, I felt no need to go back and revisit it. Yeah. There must be other ways of telling that. Yeah, precisely. Okay, Mark, well enough faffing about in the green room here. As I understand it, the audience is in. Right. Which means you need to get ready. I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be.

Are you gonna wear makeup? Oh actually, you know, alright fine. Let's go to makeup and then go to the stage. Okay, alright. I'll see you there. Hello everybody! Hello at the top! Hello in the middle! Hello at the top hello in the middle hello at the front hello there hello hello hello welcome to Komo de Mayo's Christmas spectacular my name's my name's Simon Paul you may know me as the redactor. It's... Alright, so to kick things off, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, The Wrathbones! APPLAUSE MUSIC

MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC Here we come, a-wassailing among the leaves so green Here we come, a-wassailing among the leaves so green. Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green. Here we come a-wandering so fair to be seen. Love and joy come to you, and to you your wassail too.

And God bless you and send you a happy new year. And God send you a happy new year. Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green. Here weass-a-ling, among the leaves so green. Here we come, a-wass-a-ling, among the leaves so green. Here we come, a-wander-ing, so fair to be seen. Love and joy come to you, and to you yourself too. And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year. And God send you a happy new year Hello, good afternoon.

You're very welcome. Thank you for negotiating the transport system of this country. Thanks very much for making it down for our Christmas spectacular. The Rathbones were fantastic, the Redactor less so. That was Arsenal's away kit for next season that he was... And he's like that when Arsenal are 1-0 down. Playing at... I know, exactly.

So imagine what he'll be like at half time. How are you doing, Mark? All right? I'm fine. I nearly killed myself tripping over the carpet. That was exciting. And we started off making football jokes. So my Christmas is going spectacularly well. Incidentally, that, that you just... That's what we have to deal with every week.

Like, literally that in our ears. Well, I did explain to the redactor that a lot of people won't have seen the substance. I mean, obviously a lot of people have. But a lot of people won't have seen the substance I mean obviously a lot of people have but a lot of people going what the hell is he talking about? The worst thing about it is I've seen the substance and I love the substance and I said to Simon backstage I don't get this. What's it? I said it was the substance Somebody said and you haven't seen it. I have seen the first hour in ten minutes. Oh, okay fine. I Decided not to watch the last half hour. Did you?

Yeah. Light been warned. Anyway, can I just say very quickly? That will be a useful prop for later on. So we've got a whole bunch of stuff lined up. But mainly thank you to you because I know a lot of people have negotiated our 19th century transport system to get here so thank you very much indeed. Has anyone come further than Croydon? Okay, we're just trying to find out who's traveled the furthest

distance because we do have a cushion, in fact, you've got the cushion there. The cushion will be given to whoever has travelled the furthest. So, has anyone come from Scotland? Anyone? Okay, well that's kind of... Whereabouts in Scotland? Sorry? Stirling. Oh, okay. Stirling. Anyone? Pardon? Is Glasgow further away than Edinburgh?

But Sterling is further away than all of them. However... You're shouting random Scottish place names, aren't you? However, I do believe that there is Hannes Olli here. Where are you, Hannes? Where are you from? From Iceland. Where are you from? From Iceland.

So how was your journey getting here? There you go. They like a conversation. Just say if we're doing this. Alexander, are you here? Alexander, where did you come from? Norway. Norway, okay. So is Norway further away than Iceland?

I have no idea. Well, what we'll do is we'll measure and then we'll decide who gets the cushion at half time. Okay. Okay. Oh, San Francisco. San Francisco. Oh, okay. Yeah, like sure.

You just, you just, yeah, Wellington, New Zealand Are you really have you really traveled from San Francisco for this show? Okay Who'd have thought it was worth it for a cushion? Did you just did you just come here to get away from the election result? Okay, don't start later. We're gonna Having sorted out the cushion. I mean, that's a disputed cushion already, the world's first disputed cushion. We are going to be playing a new game,

although there's a version of it that I tried on Radio 1 back in the day, and the game is called Visible Panto Line. And the idea of this, we wanted to... Yeah, I mean, to be honest, that's as funny as it gets. The title is the funniest bit. It's the best pantomime-related game that we could think of, isn't it, Mark? It's the best pantomime-related game that you could dust off from a previous career. You went, this will work.

OK. That was the bit when Mark was supposed to say, no, it wasn't. Oh, I see. Yes. So that was... Okay, so we'll skip over that bit as well. The thing is, I can't read scripts. We all know this. Try again. They can edit it, right? Do it again. So the idea of Visible Pantoline was basically the best pant pantomime related game that we could think of no it isn't Okay, all right, that's fine that led it nicely I think you know that'll come together

And then when you listen to it, you know go I was there in the room He made a complete Horlicks of it Yeah He did a whole other joke and the basic idea visible pantoline is whenever you see a pantomime villain appear behind us, you have to shout, she or he's behind you or it's behind you or whatever, okay? So whenever you see someone... Sorry, what? She's behind us.

She's behind us. Oh no, she isn't. Oh yes, she is. Well, that's a pretty high standard of ghastliness to say. That's it. For the listeners, that's Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the interval snack will be gazpacho soup. So regular listeners to the program will be familiar with the thing that you shout out

when you go through a tunnel, which is of course, smelly pants wee. Now, this was from a recording which Ed Freshwater sent us a few years ago when he was taking his son Kip to have his cancer treatment at Birmingham Children's Hospital. And there was this wonderful recording as they were going through like an underpass. And obviously, you have to shout something out as you go through an underpass because the acoustics are so great the Ed sent us a

Recording of everything that Kip could say that he thought were the worst words in the world. Okay, so and We got a transcription of them and what we thought we'd do. I think it's here you hear it Okay, you're gonna join in with this? Okay, because it's kind of your thing. So these are the worst words that Kip could think of, okay? And Mark is going to take us through them. Well, I'm just waiting for the slide to appear actually. Okay, so there it is.

So we're all going to do this together. Okay, Mark there it is. So we're all going to do this together. Okay, Mark, lead us. Okay, so the most important thing to make this work is timing, okay? So... Here we go. Smelly pants wee, stinky pants, stinky smelly pants wee, smelly pants stink, smelly stinky pants we toilet fart

stinky pants we toilet fart stinky pants we toilet fart we toilet fart we we we toilet we stinky pants. Yes, that's it. Thank you, Ed, for suggesting that we do that. And I think we should give that to the Rathbones to maybe to turn to, it could become like a Christmas classic when you go caroling through the villages and towns. So that was lovely. Thank you very much indeed. So if you're listening to this podcast at home, correspondence at Comanomeo.com, thanks to MUBI, a wonderful streaming service.

And also, I believe they have they have some kind of connection with our first movie. OK, so Queer, which is distributed by MUBI. This is the new film from Luca Guadagnino, who made Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria, which I wasn't a huge fan of, and then most recently Challengers, which I did like a lot. And this is an adaptation of a novel by William Burroughs and many of you may be familiar with William Burroughs' stuff. He wrote Junkie and Naked Lunch.

Naked Lunch was famously adapted into a film by David Cronenberg, actually a really interesting film. So this was written pretty much in the wake of Junkie, but it wasn't published for a long time afterwards. It's set in 1950s Mexico City. Daniel Craig is William Lee. And during the course of the drama, we see him becoming infatuated with Eugene, Gene.

But the infatuation is kind of unbalanced to the point that at one point he says to Jean, look, you know, I'll look after you and all you need to do is just show me some affection every now and then. And the film follows this unequal relationship and the way in which it plays out. And the cast also includes an all but unrecognizable Jason Schwartzman.

And then in its later act, Leslie Manville, who is completely unrecognizable, when they go in search of a magical plant bark that is said to increase telepathic power. Anyway, have a quick look at the trailer for Queer. There's a wise old queen who taught me that I had a duty to live, you know, to conquer hate with knowledge, with sincerity, and love. The difficulty is to convince someone else he is really part of you. What else should I be? All apologies. So here's the thing.

So that's it. It's from a script by Justin Garaskewicz who we mentioned before because he's the partner of Celine Song who made Parcel Life. Celine Song came on the show and, you know, it was one of our favorite films of last year. And she was a top guest. A fantastic guest.

And so therefore the same writer as well as Challengers which was written as a spec script. And if you've read any William Burroughs, you'll know that trying to adapt William Burroughs for the screen is very difficult because a lot of the stuff that his writing does is very, it's very disruptive and also for the time that it was written, it was also considered to be sort of very, very out there in Utrecht.

I think this is really well done. And I actually think it's my favorite Luca Guadagnino film, my previous favorite actually being Challengers. So I think this is a very done and I actually think it's my favorite Luca Guadagnino film, my previous favorite actually being Challenger. So I think this is a very good collaboration with the screenwriter. It's got a fantastic central performance by Daniel Craig. I mean we've all seen Daniel Craig in a range of different things, whether it's enduring love or I still think he was the best of all the bonds so far, although actually we'll go on to the subject of Roger Moore later on in the show. And the film has this kind of really wonderful, tactile,

woozy, slightly dreamlike quality. And so it's got its feet on the ground, but it's also got its head somewhere sort of up there in the end. When Luca Guadagnino was talking about it, he compared it to, he said he was inspired by the works of Powell and Pressburger. And we've talked about Powell and Pressburger a lot on the show, because there's been a brilliant BBC series recently showcasing Powell

and Pressburger's films, including Red Shoes. And if you've seen Red Shoes, you'll know the whole thing about it is it's like a kind of fever dream. And in a way, there is a similar sort of fever dream quality to Queer. It's, you know, it's realistic and grounded but it's absolutely got its head up in the clouds. It's got these anachronistic needle drops which mean that although it is, you know, it's a period story, it's kind of timeless. And one of the really interesting things about it is that

there is, it would make a perfect double bill with David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch, although they're very, very different films. I mean, Cronenberg obviously comes out with a whole, you know, body horror area. But there is a weird sort of similarity of purpose in that they're both trying to make visual and trying to make into cinema the peculiarity of Boroughs prose. I mean, bear in mind, Borroughs wrote this whilst he was awaiting trial for accidentally killing his wife. So, you know, the whole thing happens in a very, very dark period.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it because a lot of William Burroughs' stuff is very dark and it's very hard to approach. But Daniel Craig is fantastic. I think it's a career best performance by him. There's been a lot of awards talk and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see him showing up on all the major awards radars. I think it's really good and it is my favorite Guadagnino film so far.

It's called Queer. Out in cinemas. Do go and see it. I mean it's unusual and it certainly treads over the line, but in a way that's really, really fascinating. I think it's also oddly inclusive. The Roger Moore reference is because we're gonna be talking about Roger Moore with love.

Also, Vengeance Most Foul will be discussed with our special guests who are Wallace and Gromit. Have Wallace and Gromit brought their creators and Gromit brought their creators along? They have brought their creators along. So we'll be talking to their creators. Can I tell the Christmas story? Yeah. Okay, sure.

Mm-hmm. Sure. I don't know where we're going. Okay. Mark is unique for many reasons. Oh, we're doing this one? Okay. Hang on. I just, hang on.

Before he does it, I want to point out, I know what he's about to tell you, and it sounds like a joke, but it isn't. When we were sitting here rehearsing, I know we have been rehearsing. Mark genuinely said these lines. So, Christmas Day, that's, is that the 25th this year? And I said, Mark, it's the most famous... Yeah, it's the 25th every year. He said, I know I can never remember.

I can't be the only person that can't. Very good. You think? Yeah, but let's find out. There are 1,600, 1,800 people here, minus whoever couldn't get here because of the transport. Is there anyone here who can never remember when Christmas Day is?

Is there anyone here who can't remember the exact date of Christmas? You know, it's around the 24th, 23th. You know, one of them's. It's the same quest. it's the same thing. You. So you and me, we can't remember what date it is. Thank you very much, thank you. OK. Nice plant.

My brother, ladies and gentlemen. It's a very special education that you got. Anyway, so we're going to take a break. We're not going to take a break. After that, Wallace Gromit, Roger Moore with Love, Vengeance Most Foul, after this. Well, hello there. Simon and Mark here to tell you about Indeed. Yes, Indeed is driven by the search for better. But when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search. Match with Indeed. If you need to hire, then you need Indeed. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform

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Need to hire? You need Indeed. Indeed. This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema. MUBI is the place to discover ambitious films by visionary filmmakers, all carefully handpicked. So you can explore the best of cinema streaming anytime, anywhere. So hey, Simon, you remember The Substance, Mubi's runaway smash hit and clear film of

the year? I remember you talking about it a lot. I loved it. But this ad isn't about that. It's about another Mubi release, Queer, from Luca Guadagnino. It's adapted from the novel by William Burroughs. It has an absolutely brilliant central performance by Daniel Craig. It's winning plaudits for its honesty, humor and frankness.

The creative team includes Trent Reza and Atticus Ross doing the score. It's in cinemas on December 13th. Visit Mubi.com slash Que queer for showtimes and tickets. Try Mubi free for 30 days at Mubi.com slash Kermode and Mayo. That's M-U-B-I dot com slash Kermode and Mayo. All one word for a whole month of great cinema for free. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Season's greetings, one and all. Christmas is one of those times, isn't it that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For me, Christmas is all about making

your house so cosy that when you come home from work, no matter what social event is on offer, you are not going out again and you have zero problem with that. Fairy lights, blankets, yes. And therapy is kind of like that blanket that stays wrapped around you, you know, even when things get more complicated than we'd like. I've benefited from therapy myself and I know a lot of other people who have as well, even if they weren't sure about giving it a try at first. And it's not just for crises, it helps with setting boundaries, self-empowerment and loads more besides.

With over 5,000 therapists in the UK already, better help can provide access to mental health professionals with a wide variety of expertise in mental health. So find comfort this December with better help. Well, welcome back. We're at the Christmas show and Mark is being very festive and he's dressed. He did say last week that I should dress like I'm in big country. Yes. But I decided that that actually wouldn't go down very well given that you've made all the effort to dress like someone from Shwadiwadi. Who I love, by the way. I thought they were a great band back in the day.

So this is called Simon and Marks to Mind. It was originally just called Marks to Mind, but then I wasn't in it, so I thought we better rename it. So it's now Simon and Marks to Mind. It could also be called Film Buffin, Film Buffin, but it's got nothing to do with Mastermind, because that is very highly copyrighted, and they have lawyers, they just take action at the drop of a hat.

So I know it's just got one chair. Yes. And it's got a series of general knowledge questions. Yes. It is like Mastermind. Yeah, it is, yes. Okay. So would you welcome, please, our first contestant, Jacob Osborne.

Round of applause, please. Hello. Hello, Jacob. How are you? I'm very well. Thanks for having me on. And where have you come from? I've come from Wandsworth, South London.

OK, so that could have taken you like six hours or so. It was alright, the tube was okay. It was okay, alright. So, what's going to happen is we've got a general knowledge question, it's all about films, there's a general knowledge question, and there is a specialist question. What is your specialist subject? The films of Christopher Nolan.

Okay, alright. So, the general knowledge questions will come from me the specialist questions will come from mark if you get it if you get anything wrong We will humiliate you with a fart Sounds sensible is that okay, and if you get any help from the audience, then hey, you know we don't care All right, I think sorry is that the rule that we don't care if the audience shat the answer. I mean, it's Christmas On the 25th of the 25th. Yeah Okay, so here we go you have ten questions ready The clock is starting but I don't know how long you've got so I wouldn't know that

Who starred as Amadeus in the 1984 musical drama? Tom in the 1984 musical drama? Tom... Er... Hulse! Hulse. Yeah, a promising star. Is that seriously how we're going to do this? Literally, you say Tom, the audience say Hulse, and he says what they said.

When was Lawrence of Arabia released? 1962. Is the right answer. When Harrison Ford was a struggling actor, what job did he do to support his then wife and two young sons? Zit was it cop janitor or carpenter carpenter is right. Yes. We'll give you that Who was the first woman to win the Academy Award for best director? Catherine Bigelow Catherine Bigelow is right for the Hurt Locker which director said I'm not a real film buff

Unfortunately, I don't have time. I just don't go and I become very nervous when I go to a film because I worry so much about the director and it's hard for me to digest my popcorn. David Lynch was the answer. How many actors have played James Bond on the film? Seven including David Niven. Seven is right, yes that's absolutely right. Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Doulton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig. Although technically in Casino Royale, the other version, they all end up playing James Bond, so it's pretty good.

Question number seven, name one of the actors offered the role of Gandalf before Sir Ian McKellen. Sean Connery. Well done. Well done. Name the Indian director most celebrated for works including the Apu trilogy, the music room, the big city and the Goopybarga trilogy?

Sight of Jit Ray. Correct. Complete this quote from Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. There is no escape. What he said. What did he say? Yeah, I think technically you actually have to say it. I mean, I know this is hard work.

Don't make me destroy you. You actually have to say it. I mean, I know this is hard work. Don't make me destroy you. Yeah, that's close enough. Final question. Which 1972 Wes Craven horror movie has had the tagline to avoid fainting, keep repeating, it's only a movie? Last House on the Left? Correct, that's the right answer. And he scored how many? Nine, nine, definitely nine.

Which film did 2006's The Prestige beat at the box office in its opening weekend in America? And it's a very successful film that it beat. Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Who knew? Exactly. Okay, so someone is going to give me a total in my left ear. 16 in total. 16, a very good score. Thank you very much indeed. Jacob Osborne, who is now to be replaced by Selena Griffin.

Give Selena Griffin a round of applause, please. Hello, Selena. With appropriately festive head gear, where are you from, Selena? Buckinghamshire. Okay, well thank you for making it here. Here we go with the general knowledge questions. What's the name of Meat Loaf's character in the Rocky Horror Picture Show? Eddie.

Is the right answer. Who voices joy in Pixar's Inside Out? Amy Comer. Well... No, I think it's a fart. Amy Cromer? You guys need... Amy...

Amy Paola. You need to enunciate better. No, you need to know the answer. You can't complain that you can't hear. It's worth a fart Thank you How old was Stockard Channing when she played high school student Rizzo in Greece? 33 is the right answer which filmmaker who passed away in 2017 directed the silence of the lambs Jonathan

Jonathan Demme no, it's pronounced Amy Poehler You are Selena Griffin, aren't you? In 2013, Lupita Nyong'o became the first Kenyan and Mexican actress to win an Academy Award. Which film did she win it for? 12... Years of Slave. Yes.

Which film was released in 2021 and directed by Denis Villeneuve? Dune... Part One. Yes. Who is the released in 2021 and directed by Denis Villeneuve? Dune? Part One. Yes. Who is the lead actress in the film Killers of the Flower Moon? Lily? Gladstone. Which 2006 fantasy film directed by Guillermo del Toro features a faun as a central character?

Pan's Labyrinth. Who voiced Jesse in Toy Story 2? The audience did very well on this round. Joan? Kusak. And which celebrity in Actors' Face is the Michael Myers mask in Halloween, a replica of William?

OK. I'm really looking forward to the specialist round. I think we're going to round your score up there to six. Eight, apparently it's eight. Okay, very good. Well done, audience. Thank you very much. Okay, so I need a score in my left ear.

Sixteen, it's a tie! Yay! And they have prizes, they have prizes, which Mark is now going to present as Selena, with, the prizes are, you won't be surprised to hear, exactly the same, but they are... the last pens, the last Vanguard Easter pens. Jacob and Selena, thank you very much indeed.

Thank you. I'll take that back and Selena, thank you very much indeed. Thank you. I'll take that back with you. Thank you. Okay. Okay. So, moving swiftly on, just before the break, Mark is now going to talk to us about Roger Moore. Oh yes. Yes, that's the one on the script. December...

I was off doing stuff that you weren't doing because you were turning the marks to mine thing in the joke. December the 25th. December the 25th. No, but I was off doing stuff that you weren't doing because you were turning the marks to mine thing in the joke. So. December the 25th. From Roger Moore with Love, which is a documentary which, as it turns out, plays, this is how it came up because I said, what day is Christmas? And he said, really? And I said, yes, because that's blah blah blah.

Anyway, directed by Jack Cocker, who I used to work with at the Culture Show, very fine documentary. So this tells the story of Roger Moore from his early days in which he was a knitted sweater model to obviously becoming, you know, his generation's James Bond. I should point out Roger Moore is my generation's James Bond because the first Bond film I ever saw was Live and Let Die. And so I think there is something about the first time you ever see Bond on screen,

that is the Bond to which you are wedded. So we hear from his children who have got this incredible archive of home movie footage which has never been seen before. We hear about his life in Switzerland and in France, and there are interviews with Joan Collins, James Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, David Williams, Christopher Walken. Best of all, however, the documentary is narrated by Roger Moore, or rather it isn't.

The narration for Roger Moore is performed by famous Roger Moore impersonator Steve Coogan, who actually does a really, really good Roger Moore. Here's a little taste of the documentary. I admit, in my personal life, I was no saint. Professionally, on the other hand, he hadn't been so good looking, they had let him be a comedian. Roger Moore, 007 for the fifth time and fit as a fiddle.

How do you do it, dare I ask? I play the fiddle. How do you do it, dare I ask? I play the fiddle. We all invent ourselves. You know, we decide somewhere who we'd like to be. I lived a pretty glamorous life, somehow becoming one of the world's most famous and desirable stars. So it's in cinemas and then you can see it on television. The thing is, as you probably saw from that trailer, it's lovely. It's really charming.

It's impossible not to be sort of won over by him. I mean, a lot of people talk about how, you know, he had all this charisma and everyone fell in love with him. And when David Walliams says, of course, he was married three times, he had to give everyone a go. Watching the doc, you kind of think, well, you can sort of understand it. I think the interesting thesis at the center of it is that he created Roger Moore as a character, and then that character then made James Bond

like Roger Moore rather than the other way around, because when you take over from Sean Connery, everyone is expecting you to do, you know, the Scottish accent when you say, you know, Bond, James Bond. And he's brilliantly self-deprecating, and everyone who speaks about him seems to really like him. And the reason Christopher Walken is there, Christopher Walken says at the beginning,

I don't like doing documentaries, I don't like talking about people I know, but I'm going to do this because I just want to say what a nice guy he was. Anyway, it's really charming, loads of great archive footage, really sort of nice memories. And it made me warm all the more to Roger Moore because he is so self-deprecating about his own talents.

And he, you know, it achieved an awful lot. And as I said, although I think Daniel Craig was the best Bond, Roger Moore was my generation's Bond. And he did do a brilliant job of turning Bond into Roger Moore. Where can we see that? You can see it in cinemas now, and then it will be

on television on whatever day that 25th is. Yeah. Okay. So can we do this? Yes, we can. Okay, so now I just want to, we're just going to try a little experiment here. As you know, Christmas is a magical time, and it's a time, Mark, when dreams can come true. Is it? And it's a time when wishes actually become real.

I have no idea where this is going, because it's not in the script. So what I want us all to do today, right now, is to close our eyes and wish for a guest. This is not how guest booking normally works. But as you close your eyes, I want you to imagine the guest who you would like to appear on stage and maybe say hello to. Um, but, so, close your eyes.

Imagine that person. Say that person's name out loud. Somebody said Timothy Chalamet and they are going to get thrown out. Let's see if it works when we say welcome Jason Isaacs. How is it? Where's he going? OK, no, he has to go now. Bring them, bring them, bring them.

Hello, everyone. Jason, you go in the middle. All right. God, I just raced. I just parked the car outside and ran in here. You can't park anywhere around here. No, that's right. This is going to be a very expensive interview for me. Anyway, there we go.

I can't believe that we can actually now say hello to Jason Isaacs. Hello, kids. Consistently, throughout the year, I'm sure it's the same for Marcus, the same for you, people just say, instead of saying, oh, hello, I like the show, they just say, can you say hello to Jason Isaacs? All over the world, they're still doing it. I was in Thailand for six months, I like the show, they just say, can you say hello to Jason Isaacs? All over the world. They're still doing it wherever.

I was in Thailand for six months. I was in some very, like, in caves with nothing but me, bat shit, and the canoe. And I'd hear, hello to Jason Isaacs. You know, there'd be some other person in the canoe, obviously not the bats. But yeah, everywhere. But it is always only them telling me

how much they love your show. And then I join in, and I check that they're subscribed on their phone, obviously, and ask if they're paying. There we are. Yeah, and are they in general? They are when I finish with them. Yeah. What were you doing in Thailand? I was doing the white lotus part three. Yeah. I'm a senior. Yeah, I don't know. Thanks very much. Thanks for anticipation. And what sort of role do you play? He's a man. He's by biped. He has eyes. I can't tell you anything else. Is he a nasty piece of work?

Listen, nobody wants to buy a ticket to watch rich people have a lovely time in a nice hotel. Bad stuff happens to people who deserve it mostly, yeah. That must be a real tough gig. Thailand, you say, for six months. I mean, look, I don't want to complain. Obviously, we're in these incredibly luxury hotels in beautiful places. But there's drama on the screen, and there's a little bit of drama off the screen as well, I've't want to complain obviously we're in these incredibly luxury hotels in beautiful places But this drama on the screen a little bit of drama off the screen as well I gotta say a little bit closer to Lord of the Flies then one way might allow you know in what way?

These we were complicated bunch of people all living in the same space It's the same space with five star food, but it's still the same space for six months and I just want to be absolutely clear he sent me a video of The the the beat of the the seafront thing he was living in which is still that's called a villa villa Was the word I was looking for and he said I've got my own butler Your car is genuinely being towed away so before it gets too far away You're at the biffers, you're at the biffers I'm at the biffers in a couple of hours. I'll dress up British independent film awards And let me say this to this fantastic crowd who clearly love film because they're here as supporters of you

Independent films having a really tough time in the world Horror films for young people doing great gigantic tentpole movies with people wearing lycra and flying occasionally do well But not mostly. But all those films in between that you hear them talk about on the show every week, don't wait for them to come to your telly. If you can, go out and see them because then we get to make more of them. People are still making them out of passion and love, which is great. APPLAUSE

Not... Not meaning to be too selfish or self-centred. I'm in one of them, you can go see that if you like, but I don't want to be too nauseating saying go and see The Soul Path, but go and see independent films wherever you can. Tonight we celebrate some amazing films, British and otherwise have been made, but they won't keep being made unless you go and sit there. Are you home for Christmas?

I am home for Christmas, yeah. Excellent. Jason, it's always a pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Great to see you all. And stay there. At the end of this part, we're going to take a break. Let's bring the Rathbones back on because we need to, as we head towards some spiced mull, something or other in the bar, we have another little, I think this is the Gloster Wasail. So let's take it away.

Wasail, wasail all over the town. Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown. Our gold it is white and our ale it is brown. Our gold it is white and our ale it is brown. Our gold it is white and our ale it is brown. Our gold it is white and our ale it is brown. Our gold it is white and our ale it is brown. Our gold it is white and our ale it is brown. Our gold it is white and our ale it is brown. Our gold it is white and our ale it is brown. Our gold it is white and our ale it is brown. Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown, our gold it is made of the white maple tree, with a wasailing bulb and drink to thee.

Wasail, wasail, wasail, wasail, wasail, wasail. What's Sam, what's Sam, what's Sam, what's Sam The Rathbones, ladies and gentlemen. We're taking a short break, 20 minutes or so, and then we'll be back for part two. Thank you very much, Jason, Isaac. Thanks, everybody. Bye. See you on 20. Hey Mark, I've found that I've been thinking recently about merch. Merch? Yes, merchandise, especially all those goodies we have for sale online, you know, branded

mugs, t-shirts, water bottles, you name it. The torch, the director's chair, the full works. I wish someone had told me about Shopify, the all-in-one commerce platform to start, run and grow your own business. I know all about that. So Shopify is the commerce platform revolutionizing millions of businesses worldwide, whether you're selling herrings or Harrington jackets with the take logo on the back. Shopify simplifies selling online and in person so you can successfully grow your business. Shopify even gets you selling across social media marketplaces like Facebook, Instagram

and TikTok with industry leading tools. Get Shopify today. Sign up for a £1 per month trial period. Can't we fix this? Shopify.co.uk. Kermode. All lowercase. All lowercase.

I mean, what is wrong with Kermode and Mayo? Why can't it be Mayo just for once? It's easier slash... Curmode. Or lowercase. Or lowercase. I mean, what is wrong with Curmode and Mayo? Why can't it be Mayo just for once? Easier to spell Curmode. They've gone for Shopify.co.uk slash, let's say it together, Curmode. Want to become up to 50% wealthier? Paying $0 in management fees with Quest Wealth Portfolios can help you get there.

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Conditions apply. Portfolios today and keep more of your money conditions apply Mark home and Simon mail You need to know he's never that excited to see us normally. But now that... Nor us him. From now on, that's how we want to be greeted every single time we're doing the show. Before we continue, we do need to sort out the small matter of the cushion here. Mark, do you want to just display it and show it in all its glory?

That's what I'm doing. Yeah. I'm literally, you know... Mark is on... he does do a little shift at the QVC shopping channel and it's a pink cushion. It says British podcast awards on the back and it's made of 100% non-natural fiber. Probably very flammable, but you know, so... And we said we were going to give it to the person who's travelled the furthest. Yes. So, San Francisco, thanks for coming, but you didn't come specifically for this. So, it was Norway versus Iceland, and we checked, and Iceland wins.

So... Hannes Olli. Now, Hannes Olli, where are you? Give him the microphone here. Have I got your pronunciation right, Hannes? Hannes Olli. Now, Hannes Olli, where are you? Give him the microphone here. Have I got your pronunciation right, Hannes? Hannes Olli. Hannes Olli, so yes then. Okay. Close enough.

And you've come here specifically for this show? Yes, I did. Okay, thank you very much indeed. Now, what are the films that you've been in? Films? Yes. I've been, well, I was in a film called The County and the Eurovision Song Contest film. Right.

That one. And so one of the most famous, in fact, your famous line. Not only were you in Eurovision Song Contest, the story of Fire Saga, you did indeed have the very finest line in the movie because we looked, I went, that's the bloke who actually says the line. Yes. Wait. Continue your excitement.

Here, in person, the delivery of the finest line from the Eurovision Song Contest, the story of Fire Saga. Play I A Ding Dong! CHEERING Jani Soli, thank you very much indeed. Safe travels back to Iceland. You win the cushion.

APPLAUSE It's actually him. CHEERING So many stars. So many stars. Let's bring on some more special guests today. The creator, first of all, the creator of Wallace and Gromit and the director of the new film. Would you welcome please Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham.

Merlin, how did you do? Nick Park, how did you do? Take a seat. So just as a reminder, and I know everybody knows this, how many times do you get to see on stage someone who has won four Oscars? Four Oscars. This man. And five BAFTAs.

Correct? Yeah. And in one of the Oscars that you won, you beat yourself. Oh, that's right. Which one was that? Was that wrong trousers? That was, no, the first one, the Grand Day Out, it was up with Creature Comforts. Yes, and Creature Comforts won. Were you disappointed that you beat yourself or did you... No, I had to be both elated and really sad or pretend to be happy with my other self.

Nick, it's fantastic to have you here. Merlin, very nice to meet you. And you're the director of the new Wallace and Gromit movie. Well, actually, Nick and I directed it together. Okay, so before we go any further, would you unveil, please, the stars? Merlin and Nick, do you want to do it together so you're the directors of the film? Nick, you take your microphone with you, that's right. And over here, underneath the parcel, would you show us show us please the stars of Wallace and Gromit? And there they are.

Your actual Wallace and your actual Gromit being repositioned. Yeah, and these are the actual puppets from the movie. Yeah. So how many different wallaces and grommets are there? One! Yes, there's only one. There's only one. I think we've got about 20 wallaces and about 30 grommets.

Okay, so what's fantastic is you can now you can actually reposition them. Yeah they're just very expensive action figures really. They are really. It looks absolutely fantastic and then the new movie is Vengeance Most Foul. Yeah. Yeah. F-O-W-L. Yes. Introduce us, Nick you go first and then Merlin, introduce us to where we are in the incredible saga of Wallace and Grumman. Well this is actually a sort of continuation, we don't call it a sequel but I guess it is what it is, it's to the wrong trousers. And in this one, the angle of attack on the story is that Wallace's inventions are actually getting too much for Gromit. And that's led from insult to injury when Wallace invents the Smart Gnome, which is his best invention ever. And it's just really,

it's done for good reasons, and it's just to help Gromit in the garden with garden chores. Okay, before we go any further, let's see a clip. I think it's just a trailer, but let's have a look. Just so you get a flavor of where we are with the brand new Wallace and Gromit adventure, Vengeance Most Vowel. We're getting reports of a crime wave across the region.

I'm live outside the West Wallaby Street house of the evil inventor, Mr Wallace. Evil? A menaceunt? Who could possibly be behind all this? So that's the reaction to the trailer. We've had a conversation on the show recently about movies where there's applause at the end. Merlin, just explain, so when we just watch like a minute from there and people are laughing,

you can hear people laughing and at the end a huge round of applause. What is that like having worked on this for such a long time to hear the kind of visceral reaction to your work? Well, frankly, it's quite a relief because you live with these jokes for years on end. I mean, Nick and I have been working on this for about the best part of five years. And to, when you think of a joke or you decide to put a joke

in a film, five years later that joke is no longer funny. I do that. And you really do have to just remember back to when it was and trust your judgment and just hope that it's gonna land. And it's great that you all laughed at the right point. But also one of the wonderful things about this and actually the whole Wallace and Gromit canon

is that there is so many gags in it. You say, you put it in five years ago and now you're wondering whether it's funny. But people watching it in five years time, there are gags in there that you'll see for the first time. There's a gag when they go across the border and it's keep out, no you keep out. And I'm sure that that won't be seen by most people the first time round. As with all the best productions, it's absolutely full of things to discover on your umpteenth reviewing. Yeah, and that's a really big part of, for us, the joy of making these films because,

yeah, there are some jokes which we put in sort of a long time ago, but also every stage of the filmmaking, whether it's script writing, storyboarding, when we're down on the set, making the set with the art department and the production designers, all of those stages are opportunities for us to just make sure that the funniness is maximized and like you say it's not always the stuff that's in front of your face, it's layered in. So this is on BBC One on Christmas Day and then it's on Netflix on January 3rd. Is that December the 25th? Usually, yeah. I mean obviously it varies but this year it's on Netflix on January the 3rd. Is that December the 25th? Usually, yeah. I mean, obviously it varies, but this year it's on December the 3rd.

Tempah 6. Tempah 6, there you go, on BBC One. And it's going to be a huge, huge Christmas hit. Just on the fact that you're now working with Netflix and you're talking about jokes and jokes that land, and two or three watches in, people are going to think, this is great, and I've now seen it all. From an American point of view,

they have a slightly different sense of humor and there's one stage where Peter Kaye's, he voices your police inspector and he stands on the bridge and he says, flipping Nora. Now the Americans aren't going to understand what flipping Nora is. That's one of the big things that Netflix did give a note on, which was they wanted to know who Nora was.

Yeah. And why is she being flipped? And what did you say? We said, well, that's just what you say, isn't it? When you've seen something and they were, uh, and it's a great example of actually in the end them just embracing the Britishness and going with the flow and it was on stuff like that we said don't worry this is it's not offensive it's it's just a

colloquialism that we'd love to have in the film. How did they manage with ooh Mibigonyas? Yeah they did try to change that I mean did suggest we change it, but a lot of things we just kind of read the notes and said thanks. Yeah. At no stage. I think when people watch this, at no stage are they going to think they've changed that for the Americans because it really doesn't feel like it. It absolutely really doesn't feel like it. Can I just ask you about the voice talent?

So we lost Peter Salas in 2017. Yeah. the voice talent, so we lost Peter Salas in 2017. Yeah. Tell us how you've gone about recreating that voice because it is extraordinary what you've done and the work of Ben Whitehead. Yeah, I mean, we were very blessed in a way because Ben Whitehead, the new voice of Wallace,

he was actually, he worked on Curse of the Were Rabbit back in 2004 or something, and he came in doing one of the background characters. And one day, you know, when you need an actor to read in with the other actor, he stood up, because Peter wasn't around at the time, and we discovered he could do a brilliant Wallace impression. And so he had... Merlin is now getting up.

Oh. OK, yeah, we put a bar of plasticine on the table, just in case they got a little bored, you know, with our conversation. And you know, when you take kids to a dinner, you know. Yeah, that's right. So do you find it quite therapeutic just to, if you see a slab of plasticine, Merlin, do you just have to reach out and grab it?

Yeah. So I've totally spoiled Nick's answer to his question. But yeah, this is morph colour by the way. I'm the voice of morph. Oh yes, of course it is, yeah. At the studio. So I might try and make a morph. Okay, so in the ten minutes that we have left, let's see if you're any good, you know? So tell us about bringing back Feathers McGraw because there is obviously there was a huge

cheer. Huge cheer. There is also a spectacular joke about Feathers McGraw not being recognized until he puts the glove on his head. We were nervous actually. How did you feel about, you know, bringing him back? You love him as much as we all do. Well, actually, I mean, people had asked us from time to time,

will he ever return? And there was never a good reason or a good context for that. But I was actually kicking around this idea about Wallace inventing the gnome for years back in Curse of the Were of it. And it was only much years later on because there needed to be something behind why the names go wrong, some villainous, something more motivated and more personal,

which is then there's this lightning strike, which seems obvious now, but there was Feathers looking from the shelf, and we didn't set out to do a sequel with Feathers McGraw. It was like a great solution to a big script problem that we had. And also, as with all your best stuff,

particularly with Curse the Were Rabbit, it's incredibly cinematic. There's loads and loads of film jokes. In the trailer, we saw the thing with the carriage on the bridge, which is a bit Mission Impossible, but it's also a very Italian job. Obviously, the original film had references to Raffifee and these kind of classic heist movies. Do you take particular pleasure in...

Because I remember you once said, correct me if I'm wrong, that when you were doing Feathers McGraw, you thought of Mrs Danvers. That's right, yeah. Which is a very film reference. Yes, even on the wrong trousers, we thought, and again on this one. And very much for the lighting as well, Dave Alex, Dave Alex Redert's lighting. The way Mrs Danvers kind of glides out of the shadows

was very much something we talked about. How long did the whole project take? It's about 15 months of principal photography with a crew of 260. I think I went there 35 animators. And from a... Obviously you're explaining it to idiots here, meaning Mark and me and not our esteemed audience. The technology, has that changed and made your life easier or is it irrelevant

to the way you go about making it? I suppose the biggest single change, so the stars there, Wallace and Gromit, are as they ever were. And the core technique, the handcraft, is still the same as it ever was. But since Wear Rabbit, we now shoot on digital stills cameras and so we have a cutting-edge digital production pipeline and we while we do use the most exquisite craft people to fashion our films we also have access to the latest

cutting-edge digital post-production and and then in Act 3 of this film there's a lot of water for example and water and stop-motion have never been great bedfellows really and there's only so much you can do with cling film and so we sort of thought actually we want this to be great and to not be distracting and so we thought to tell the story we need to sort of have the latest and greatest visual effect as well as stop-motion. And I imagine that with the length that it takes to do any scene,

there's almost nothing that hits the cutting room floor. By the time you've, there's nothing that you would animate a sequence then go, actually that doesn't work, because that's like five months worth of work. That's right. I mean we top and tail. We shoot a little bit extra on the end, like half a second. Top and tail on a shot. Really? That's a lot. Half a second. Yeah. And that's why we storyboard it. So we make the film in a sort of a very low-fi drawn way as an animatic.

And that's where we do our editing, that's where we make our mistakes. So when we actually come to animate it, we're pretty much making... So with the half second thing, if you did like at the end of the film, we did a gag reel of outtakes, it would just be like... Yeah, that's right. Outtakes don't exist. Tell us a little bit about the music, because the music of Wallace & Gromit has always been so important. Tell us about that.

Oh, yes. Well, it's always... Julian Knott is the composer of the Wallace & Gromit theme. We met at film school. By the way, it was amazing to be here, 30 odd it is, 1989 since then, and just recently at Abbey Road, seeing a 70 piece orchestra kind of knocking the hell out of what Julian wrote. But- Is that a technical term knocking the hell out?

I believe it is, yeah, it's a musical I think. But anyway, Julian came along to us and said, do you mind if I work with Lorne Balfe this time? Who you'll know. Do you mind if I work with this incredibly successful? No, no, I'll be fine. Yes. I believe Julian was still writing the tunes,

but Lorne was really making it very epic. But they got to know each other on Where Rabbit. So when we were making that film with DreamWorks, Hans Zimmer was the music sort of head honcho at DreamWorks. And he came over as music producer and brought sort of a crack squad of young acolytes. And Lorne Balfe was one of those. And Julian and Lorne met on Wear Abit. I've sort of been in touch ever since.

And do you both do the thing that the rest of the world do, which is walk around singing that theme tune in your head? Completely, yes. Kind of all the time. It's driving you crazy. the world do, which is walk around singing that theme tune in your head. Completely, yes. Kind of all the time. It's drive you crazy. So what are you working on next? Having a rest first.

I mean we've literally only finished actually making the film about four or five weeks ago. Yeah, okay, that's fine. That's a long holiday, so what's next? When you say you finished it four or five weeks ago, it was like there was four seconds that you hadn't finished. That's right. And we've been on tour doing the after it. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm not buying any of that.

Just give it to me. What we do next, probably more Wallace and Gromit. There you go. No, as a studio, I think we have a series of Shaun the Sheep is the next thing to come out of Hardman. Yeah. Very good. Ladies and gentlemen, would you give them a big round of applause.

This is going to be a fantastic film and a great success when you can see it on BBC One on Christmas Day, then Netflix from January the 3rd, Nick Parker, Merlin Crossingham and Wallace McGromwell. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. And more. Beautiful. Thank you, Merlin.

No, you can leave. You can leave while I'm going to go and get some more. Beautiful. Thank you, Merlin. No, you can leave Wallace... Oh, you can leave... Oh, no. They're gone. OK. It's a cracking film. I think, Mark, you're going to do a review next week. You're going to do a proper review next week.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll do a full review of the film next week, short version. It's fab. Okay, so before we're done we have to complete the World Cup of the worst film of Christmas. The worst Christmas film? That is exactly the same thing. So the final is Santa with Muscles versus Home Alone 3. Mark, remind us of the joys to be had with Santa with Muscles and Home Alone 3. Well Home Alone 3. Mark, remind us of the joys to be had with Santa with Muscles and Home Alone 3. Well, Home Alone 3 is famous because it's the first one in the series when everyone who was in the original ones

went, I've had enough, I'm not doing this again. So it's not Macaulay Culkin and it's not Columbus and it's not, you know, John Williams doing so. So it's everything that you liked about the first film and thought was kind of okay about the second film although that has got, you know, Manga Mussolini in it. All of those things have now gone. As far as the Muscles film is concerned, that is a Christmas movie starring Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan most recently seen failing to rip his t-shirt off whilst telling people to vote for Manga Mussolini.

So it's a pretty tight race between the two of them. Just before we reveal the outcome, if you had to watch one of those this Christmas with the family, you have to watch one of them and you have to put your phone away, put your laptop away, we allow you a Japanese whiskey. Thank you. Which are you going to go for? I go for Home Alone 3.

Okay, that's what you think should win. Because Hulk Hogan is an arse. Okay, that's always a very interesting point. Okay, so let's find out the film that you voted the worst Christmas film of all time. Home Alone 3, 42% Santa with muscles. 58% officially the worst Christmas film of all time, Santa with muscles. Although it doesn't really deserve applause, does it? I tell you what, again, for the purposes of the recording,

let's do a huge boo for that, okay? So... Okay, it's Home Alone 3 on 42%, Santa with Muscles 58%. Boo! How bad is that? Exactly, it's that bad. It is that bad. Thank you very much, Deep, for participating in that.

Now, before we're done, I think we have time for a little wassail. Oh, yes, we do. Do you have any other business to attend to? No, no, other than to say thank you so much, everybody, for coming and congratulations for making it through the weather, which, you know, every year it surprises. Oh, it's winter, it's cold. Oh, stop the trains. Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Wasail, Was better we will sing Love and joy come to you, and to you you're Wassel too

And God bless you and send you a happy new year And God send you a happy new year One more Wassel Oh I missed it That was one more The Wrathbones ladies and gentlemen Always have to wassail every Christmas. Thanks to our very good friends at Mubi, by the way, who have been helping us out. Mubi, fabulous.

A streaming service, as I recall. A marvelous streaming service with cutting edge films from some of the most exciting directors around. Very, very easy to use, fantastically reasonably priced, you know. Whenever I find myself alone of an evening... Okay. Oh, this is because we are now playing the final round of Visible Panto Lion, and the boogeyman appeared behind us

all with orange skin and strange hair. What a, we're on, look, we're on the same screen together. All it remains for us to do is to thank you very, very much for coming. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being loyal listeners. And I know some of you struggled to get here today because it has been easy.

The other thing we have to say is, Mark, Christmas is when? Christmas Day is the 25th, Boxing Day is the 26th, and New Year's Eve is the 31st? How about that? I'm very much enjoying my stay on your planet, thank you. So we wish you a Happy Christmas and thank you very much indeed for coming and thank you for listening. Thanks for coming, safe journey home. Thank you, thank you. So here we are backstage in our sumptuous suite.

It's very warm in this room. And we just came on stage at the Prince Edward Theatre. Yes. I just said that Prince Edward Theatre is really big, because we were into the second half before I realised that there was three tiers of audience. There was people up in, you know, what they used to refer to as the nosebleeds. Yeah. It was huge.

In the gods. And we, obviously, on the day we're speaking, the storm was hit. And a lot of people had a lot of trouble, including yourself, getting in. So I was thinking, well, maybe there'll be half the people who wanted to come. They couldn't, but it was fantastic.

Yeah, no. So well done to everybody, because as Simon says, I literally nearly didn't make it because of the storm. So I hope you get listening, I hope you got a feel of what it was like to be in the audience, because we haven't done a live show for quite a while. No, not for a year I think.

It was nice to do, and so should we do another one? Well, I really enjoyed that. I really, really liked it. I mean, one of the loveliest things was when we played the Wallace and Gromit trailer, and everyone went completely nuts when Feathers McGraw turns up. And as we were just saying, if you've worked on a film for that long,

to see it, you know, you see it at Hope, that's one thing, but you see it in the theatre with however many people it's in there, with three tiers of audience, and everyone goes bananas when you first see Feathers McGraw, you must think, OK, we're on to a winner. Yes, and they are. I mean, it's, you know, it's terrific, isn't it? To get belly laughs like that. Anyway, thank you very much, Deep, for listening. We'll be back in a few days.