Wallace And Gromit are a beloved stop motion duo but a live-action parody from 1995 is the stuff of purest nightmare. Wallace And Gromit's creator Nick Park started his animation career working on the likes of Pee-Wee's Playhouse or Peter Gabriel's famous music video for "Sledgehammer." Following the breakout success of his most popular characters, Park went on to co-direct the animated hit Chicken Run in 2000 and most recently helmed the well-received comedy Early Man in 2018.
Nick Park's name will forever be linked to Wallace And Gromit, however, and the duo made their debut with 1989's acclaimed short A Grand Day Out, where the duo flies to the moon, which made out of cheese. Wallace (originally voiced by the late Peter Sallis) is a kindly inventor while Gromit is his loyal, mute dog. Thanks to follow-up shorts like The Wrong Trousers or 1995's A Close Shave they became iconic characters in the UK, and they received their very own movie with 2005's The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.
Wallace And Gromit return occasionally but no matter how beloved they are, nobody is crying out for a live-action adaptation. The unique look and feel afforded to the pair's adventures by stop motion is irreplaceable - but that didn't stop British comedian Lenny Henry (Broadchurch) giving it a try. In a 1995 sketch for The Lenny Henry Christmas Show titled "The Right Trousers," Henry takes on both roles to hypnotically horrifying effect.
On one hand, Lenny Henry's Wallace And Gromit live-action sketch is a total success. It manages to recapture the tone and look of the series, which is no small feat. On the other, the entire thing looks like it was pulled out of some feverish nightmare. From the uncanny valley look of both characters - where Henry's eyes are seen poking out through layers of makeup - to Wallace's dancing, everything about "The Right Trousers" just screams wrong.
Outside of David Lynch directing this live-action Wallace And Gromit skit, it's hard to think of how it could have turned out more nightmarish. While it likely haunted the dreams of children who tuned into The Lenny Henry Christmas Show back in 1995, it has since earned something of a cult fandom online. It's exactly the kind of weird curio that gets rediscovered by the internet hivemind and it lives on in viral glory - and serves as an important reminder that Wallace And Gromit should never, ever receive a live-action movie adaptation.