Originally from Barrowhouse, Co. Laois, and now based in Bristol, animation director and writer Séamus Malone will helm Series 7 of ‘Shaun the Sheep’, currently broadcast in 170 territories worldwide. He also worked on the new ‘Wallace & Gormit’ movie coming to our screens on Christmas Day. Titled ‘Vengence most fowl’, the latest ‘Wallace & Gromit’ movie made the 2025 nominations list for best animated feature for the Golden Globes.

At the moment, Séamus is writing and directing Series 7 of Shaun the Sheep. His award-winning work includes Watership Down, Shrek 2, Chicken Run, Arthur’s Christmas, Flushed Away, Ron’s Gone Wrong and the brand new Vengence Most Fowl. He has worked with DreamWorks, 20th Century Fox, and Sony Pictures, but his main work is with the multi-award-winning independent animation studio Aardman, where he began his animation career in 1996. His talent was first noticed in secondary school when he designed the Barrowhouse GAA crest, which remains the crest of his home club today. He studied traditional and stop frame animation at Ballyfermot Senior College, Dublin.

Séamus returns to his hometown of Barrowhouse this Christmas, and he spoke to ‘Midlands Ireland’ about his work.

How do you manage to clear your head after a long day of intense filming?

When you’re on an animation set with no windows and no reference to the outside world, it’s nice to just actually see things from a bigger perspective. I like going for a walk and looking at real trees that are further away. I may have been looking at a six-inch tree in front of my nose for hours. It’s good just to remind yourself that there is a real world out there, as opposed to a contained environment when we’re on set shooting.

You work in two Aardman studios in Bristol. One smaller space in town and a giant warehouse with a space to host 30/40 outdoor sets. Describe the studio space.

Currently I’m challenged as I’ve got about 30 units running, and some are exterior sets, which are very big, and some are interiors a little bit smaller. We also have some green and blue screen sets. For stop motion animation, you need a bit of elbow room and a bit of space to, to build your sets, to dress them, to put lights around them and cameras around them, and to keep them enclosed so there’s no other light spilling from other units.

Because the nature of stop animation means hours and hours of filming tiny movements, turning into years sometimes, does this mean you form great friendships with the crew?

Nick Park, the director, likes working with people he’s worked with before, and I have worked with Nick on a couple of different films. Love and Death and Curse of the Were-Rabbit years ago, and the same group of people often come together to do these projects. The last Wallace and Gromit film was 2008, which was A Matter of Life and Death, and a lot of people on that were on this project as well. So, you do get to know people really well, as you could spend years together. I’ve known people on these sets for 25 years or more because we’ve worked on similar projects throughout the years.

It’s different from a live-action film, where you have a couple of months or maybe less than a year. But for animation, it seems much more intense and longer.

On film, it takes 10 seconds to film seconds. Whereas with animation, it can take weeks to film 10 seconds. With stop animation from initial conception to release day, it could take up to five years. The animation production process can take 18 months usually. But there’s usually a couple of years of pre-production and writing. It’s like painting a picture. You’re crafting it, and it is kind of linear. You’re building it up slowly over time, but the time always seems to go fast when you’re in the studio.

This kind of work is very concentrated; you could be filming somebody’s fingers for a day. So it must be very good for your brain to focus on one particular thing like that

It makes you quite observant because, as an animator, you think about things in slow motion. If someone is just walking, you notice what part of your body moves first. Generally, the hips will move first, which will drive the leg, which will drive the knee. You become very observant about how things move. And what you can exaggerate and what not to focus on. For example, if you are animating a crowd shot or a couple of people, you’re being very observant about the eyes and what the eyes do and what the body does, and you think about what’s going to happen next.

Tell us about the new characters in the new Wallace and Gromit film. I see there’s a robot called Norbot.

So, Wallace is an inventor, and he’s always had these harebrained inventions, even though Gromit is the brains of the operation. Wallace invents this’smart gnome’ called Norbot to help with everyday jobs, gardening jobs, and things like that. Gromit’s a little worried that Wallace is relying too much on AI and technology. Norbot is supposed to be a good robot, but things go a little strange, and he becomes not so good.

And is the evil penguin back?

Yes. Feathers McGraw is the name of the penguin who was in the ‘Wrong Trousers,’ the second Wallace & Gromit film. I remember seeing the Wrong Trousers movie when I was in college in Dublin, and it’s genius. While writing this film, it was decided to bring Feathers McGraw back. Vengeance Most Fowl is the name of the film and as he doesn’t speak, he comes across as menacing as he was 30 years ago.

Even the way he turns around scares the life out of me.

Yeah. That’s all about timing, which is what the animator does. And a good stare from feathers McGraw will stay with you for life.

I watch Shaun the Sheep with my kids, and Grace, my oldest, now 16, still loves it. It’s wonderful to have that common ground that goes through the generations.

I agree completely. I still watch ‘Wrong Trousers,’ which was one of the first long-form animations I’d seen. And because it’s made of clay and real stuff, there’s that genuine connection to it. And the little jokes that stick in your mind. It’s timeless. It’s so important because you’re creating not only memories in your film, but you’re creating communal memories for a mother and daughter or a father and son. That’s a wonderful creation for me that goes beyond art. That’s why I still love Shaun the Sheep. There’s a real joy and innocence in it that is maintained. And I think that’s why we all want to have a ‘Shaun the sheep’ in our lives. A friend like that who’s not only constant but a bit of a rogue and still very kind. The kindness is always there with Shaun the sheep.

When is the new Shaun the Sheep released?

It’ll probably be delivered in maybe April next year, as we’re still filming it right now. I’m about halfway through 20 new episodes. The new Wallace & Gromit film will be out on Christmas Day on BBC and January 3rd on Netflix. 

And finally, what is the most important trait of a good director?

I think being calm is good because there’s a lot of people relying on you. Generally, as a director, people will look to you for the answers, and you will guide them through storyboarding, through model making, through animation, and through filming and lighting the project. And if you’re not sure what to say to people, you will ask advice from friends and fellow animators and make an informed decision.