Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends opens at the Young V&A this week

A brand new Aardman exhibition celebrating Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep and more opens at the Young V&A in London this week, giving fans a rare look behind the scenes of Aardman’s most beloved creations.

Titled Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends, the exhibition lands in Bethnal Green on 12th February, marking 50 years of Aardman and its unmistakable stop-motion style. Rather than simply displaying finished films, the show digs into how those characters were actually made, from early sketches and storyboards to physical models and filming techniques.

Tickets for Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends are available to book now, and the exhibition pass allows you to visit as many times as you like between February and November!

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Alex Newson, Chief Curator at the Young V&A, said: “Aardman quite literally began on the kitchen table, when two young school friends started experimenting with animations at home. Even though Aardman is now one of the most successful animation studios in the world, its films still have the same handcrafted feel. It is this ‘thumbiness’, as they refer to it, that makes the films so charming and well loved. This is also what makes the story so great for children. While Aardman’s films are now made by large and highly skilled teams it’s also possible for anyone to have a go at making their own stop motion films at home with minimal equipment and experience.”

Running until 26 November 2026, the exhibition brings together more than 150 original objects, including models, sets, and props from across the Aardman catalogue. Visitors can expect highlights spanning Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024), Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023), Robin Robin (2019), The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012), and Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out (1989). 

The exhibition is designed to be hands-on, with interactive elements that invite visitors to explore the animation process themselves, from storyboarding and modelling to understanding how stop-motion movement is created frame by frame. The focus is firmly on Aardman’s famously “handmade” approach, showing how its films retain their charm despite being produced by large creative teams.

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Header image credit: Young V&A / Aardman