A Grand Day Out (lost Peter Hawkins' "Gromit" dialogue from stop-motion animated film; 1989)

Gromit (left) and his original voice actor Peter Hawkins (right).

Status: Lost

A Grand Day Out is a 1989 stop-motion animated short film by Nick Park, most widely known for being the debut of the animated duo Wallace and Gromit. The short took Nick 7 years to produce, being made as a graduation project for his school.

History

When creating the short, Nick Park originally wanted to make Gromit speak. The person he had in mind to voice him was Peter Hawkins (known as the original voice of the Daleks in Doctor Who), and he recorded Gromit's dialogue all in one morning. According to Nick, the dialogue would've been Gromit repeating everything Wallace said in a doggy voice. Nick then realized that Gromit could speak with his eyebrows and ears, thus Gromit became a mute character. One scene that led to this decision was when Wallace is using Gromit as a support beam while he saws a door in half, and Gromit reacts silently.

See Also

• Aardman Animations (found Cuprinol stop-motion TV ads from British animation studio; 1988-late 1990s)
• Aardman Animations (partially found stop-motion commercials from British animation studio; 1980s-2010s)
• Lurpak (partially lost Aardman Animations commercials for Danish butter brand; 1990s)
• Pib & Pog (found original college animation of stop-motion short; 1995)
• Shaun The Sheep (lost pilot of British stop-motion TV series; early to mid 2000s)
• Sumitomo Life (found "Wallace & Gromit" commercial for Japanese insurance company; 2000-2001)

Availability

While the dialogue was fully recorded, it has never been heard by the public. Gromit's only pieces of dialogue in A Grand Day Out were snores and simple dog noises, although it's never been confirmed if these were done by Peter Hawkins.