Aardman Animations celebrates 40 years in Bristol

The company started in a "tiny studio" in Bristol and went on to win four Oscars

The creators of Wallace and Gromit, Morph and Shaun the Sheep are celebrating 40 years in the animation business.

David Sproxton and Peter Lord started Aardman Animations when they were at school together and opened a studio in Bristol in 1976.

The company has won Oscars for Creature Comforts, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Mr Sproxton said they have had an "incredible time" in the city.

He added that they have seen the television industry "change tremendously" since they started the company.

"You have to move on; we have moved on and will continue to move on over the next 40 years."

Aardman Animations created Morph for the children's programme Take Hart. In 1981 Peter Lord and Morph were presented with a Blue Peter badge by Sarah Greene

Peter and David met Nick Park at the National Film and Television School when he was working on his student film A Grand Day Out. He joined Aardman full time in 1985

In 2005 the company lost its archive of Wallace and Gromit props when a warehouse burnt down. Aardman now works out of purpose-built studios

The eccentric inventor Wallace and silent sidekick Gromit have starred in A Grand Day Out, A Close Shave, The Wrong Trousers and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

All the characters and props are hand-made at the Bristol studios

To celebrate 40 years in the business, Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Morph are to appear on a new set of Isle of Man stamps