Biggest fear surrounding Peter Kay’s TV comeback after 6 years this Christmas-Alistair McGeorge-Entertainment – Metro

Peter Kay is back on television this Christmas (Picture: Brian J Ritchie/Hot Sauce/REX/Shutterstock)

Peter Kay is making his television comeback in Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – but there were fears it wouldn’t work out.

The 51-year-old comedy legend is reprising his Curse of the Were-Rabbit role as PC Mackintosh in the new feature length film on Christmas Day, with the character now a chief inspector eyeing up retirement.

It will mark the comedian’s first TV role since 2017’s Inside No. 9 and the 2018 Car Share finale, and he’s returning to his Wallace and Gromit role for the first time in 20 years.

‘There’s only two characters that have ever been brought back now in the Wallace and Gromit films, and that’s Feathers McGraw and PC McIntosh,’ creator Nick Park exclusively told Metro.

‘It was fabulous getting Peter back.’

However, Peter’s current comeback tour across the UK meant Aardman Pictures bosses weren’t sure if he’d be able to take part.

He’s back as Arthur Mackintosh, who’s now a chief inspector (Picture: BBC/Aardman Animations/Richard Davies/Stuart Collis)

Mackintosh first appeared in 2005’s Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Picture: Aardman Animations)

‘The big fear was that we couldn’t get him because for as long as we’ve been filming, he’s been in the middle of a massive tour,’ Nick recalled.

Thankfully, the lure of the first Wallace and Gromit feature film in almost 20 years was too much for Peter to turn down.

‘He replied to a letter that we wrote and said he’d love to do it,’ he added. ‘He somehow fitted it in, incredibly! So we’re very grateful for that.’

Despite Peter fitting his recording sessions around his hectic touring schedule, Nick and his co-director Merlin Crossingham were delighted with what he brings to the film.

The Phoenix Nights star hasn’t appeared on television for seven years (Picture: Mark Campbell/REX/Shutterstock)

‘He has been absolutely amazing to work with,’ Merlin said. ‘The understanding of character that he has and is able to bring vocally, you know?

‘Obviously, we’re just taking the voice part of his acting – [his] ability is great. And he understands funny, you know? We don’t have to tell him how to be funny, that’s been a gift for us!’

Peter’s character Macintosh has an excited young protege on the force this time round, with rising star Lauren Patel joining as PC Mukherjee.

Lauren Patel, seen here with Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, was the only member of her family who hadn’t met Peter (Picture: Dave Benett/WireImage)

Wallace and Gromit are back for a new adventure (Picture: BBC/Aardman Animations/Richard Davies/Stuart Collis)

Despite being from Bolton and her family all meeting Peter over the years, she’s finished work on the film as the only member of her family not to have met her co-star.

‘We’ve all been recording separately with Merlin and Nick, kind of directing us. I keep telling people I’m the only person in my family that hasn’t met Peter Kay,’ she laughed in a conversation before the premieres.

‘I’m the only one in film with him,’ she added. ‘We’re all from Bolton. They’ve ran into him at the post office and the cinema. My dad used to work with his wife, and everyone keeps asking me, “Oh, how’s working with Peter?” I don’t know!’

Lauren’s family have all met the Bolton legend (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

Despite recording her parts without her castmates – including Ben Whitehead, replacing Peter Sallis as Wallace – the Everybody’s Talking About Jamie actress had Nick and Merlin on hand to help.

‘It’s very much a collaborative process. And I am always just going to do what I feel instinctively is right, and then you can tell me if I look silly. I’d kind of just go for it, and then they’d direct and tweak and push me in the right direction,’ she explained.

‘They’ve given me a lot of freedom, which has always been my experience working with Aardman [since Lloyd of the Flies], which is really lovely as an actor, to be like, “Oh, can I try it like this”? Or, “Could I just tweak this line a little bit and maybe give you this alternate line reading?” ‘

Lauren plays PC Mukherjee in the new film (Picture: BBC/Aardman Animations/Richard Davies/Stuart Collis)

Lauren also loved doing ‘all of the ad libs noises’ from running and jumping to screaming, even though she looked ‘absolutely mental’.

The freedom she was given helped create a character full of ‘energy’, and she’s still been able to ‘bounce off’ Peter despite not being together physically for the scenes.

‘Even though I haven’t been fortunate enough to record with him in the room, I’ll still bounce off a lot of the lines that he’s already recorded,’ she smiled. ‘[We] have our little duo going along.’

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl will premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day.

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