Wallace and Gromit maker Aardman's head of TV has said the company may have to halt UK production of its famed stop-frame animations because it has become too expensive.
Miles Bullough told Radio 4's World This Weekend there was a "crisis" in the UK's TV animation industry and that homegrown shows were being lost to cheaper foreign competitors.
"When a company like Aardman is considering offshoring stop-frame animation, which we are at the moment, something's got to be wrong," he said.
The main problem, he said, was that while films made in the UK can receive government help in the shape of a 15-20% tax credit, UK TV animation receives nothing.
As a result, many British companies were either sending their shows abroad to be made or were being bought out altogether, he said.
"There is genuinely a crisis. HIT, a beacon of excellence in children's animation in the UK and maker of Bob the Builder and Pingu, has just been bought by US company Mattel.
"Cosgrove Hall, known for Dangermouse and Avenger Penguins, is sadly no longer with us."
Aardman is most famous for the Wallace and Gromit television shorts and feature film, but it has also had a big TV hit with Shaun the Sheep which is now seen in more than 180 countries.
The show is currently still made in the UK - at Aardman's Bristol studios - but if companies are increasingly having to outsource their shows overseas, it could "threaten the country's cultural heritage", said Mr Bullough.
"Do we want to see Bob the Builder driving on the right-hand side of the road? That is what will happen if we don't watch out," he said.
"And do you want our children thinking that the emergency services number is 911? If we let cheap American products come into the country we are selling our children short."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15611244
Wallace and Gromit emigrate.
Wallace and Gromit emigrate.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Wallace and Gromit emigrate.
I can't imagine Wallace and Gromit eating cheese whiz - the horror!
I love that Shaun the Sheep. Aardman rocks. Don't see why they don't get the same tax breaks as live action.
I love that Shaun the Sheep. Aardman rocks. Don't see why they don't get the same tax breaks as live action.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan