The Studio Behind ‘Wallace and Gromit’ Gets Its Own Immersive Experience

• Aardman will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an immersive experience in London.
• The Lightroom show will surround visitors with sets, props, archive footage, and new animation sequences.
• The exhibition highlights Aardman’s claymation legacy, from to and beyond.

Beloved characters Wallace, Gromit, Morph, and Shaun the Sheep will share the silver screen for perhaps the first time this year—not in a feature film, but in a 50-minute ode to their creator, Bristol-based animation studio Aardman. The immersive experience, titled “Larger Than Life: Starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun and More,” will take over the Lightroom at London’s King Crossing this October, marking the Oscar-winning outfit’s 50th anniversary.

Lightroom has made a real splash since opening in 2023 with David Hockney’s divisive immersive art show, followed by 360-degree experiences devoted to moon landings, dinosaurs, and, come April, David Bowie. “Lightroom thought Aardman’s world and creative process would make an amazing experience for audiences of all ages,” the venue’s executive producer David Sabel told me over email. The collaboration took shape after Lightroom invited the Aardman team to see its Hockney show.

Three years on, “Larger Than Life” will envelope viewers within Aardman’s creative process, while tracing its trajectory from its formation by school friends Peter Lord and David Sproxton through its claymation hits including the franchise, (2000), and (2015).

Along the way, fans get a fresh look at sets, props, and never-before-seen footage. “Lightroom and Aardman are collaborating to create a handful of new animation sequences,” Sabley said. “The team has filmed behind the scenes on some of Aardman’s latest projects and spent time trawling through the studio’s archive—from sketches and concept art to set models and puppets.”

All together, “Larger Than Life” will honor a group of filmmakers who’ve stuck to their plasticine roots, even as computer-generated imagery and artificial intelligence have reshaped Hollywood. Aardman co-founder Nick Park told The Times recently that he thinks today’s animators “rely too much on that technology,” pointing out that “Wallace and Gromit didn’t come overnight.” Aardman left a partnership with Steven Spielberg’s legendary DreamWorks studio in 2007, and became employee-owned in 2018.

Still, this fall’s showcase proves that the studio remains open to new media. Visitors at Lightroom will be able to enjoy “Larger Than Life” from their seats—or get up and explore as the spectacle spreads across Lightroom’s 36-foot-high walls onto its floor. Aardman’s cofounders will narrate the show alongside some of the actors who’ve voiced their charming stories over the years. Lightroom and the studio are still finalizing the all-ages experience alongside director Nicol Scott of 59 Studio.

“Larger Than Life” will offer but one bit of this year’s Aardman extravaganza. Last month, London’s family-oriented Young V&A museum opened “Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends,” an interactive exhibition which presents 150 models, sets, and storyboards through November 15. The studio’s latest feature film, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, is also slated to hit theaters later this year.

“Larger Than Life: Starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun and More” is on view at Lightroom, Lewis Cubitt Square, London, from October 14, 2026.