Britain’s well-loved sidekick Gromit was originally a cat

Famous sidekick in Britain’s Wallace and Gromit was planned to be a cat, but was turned into a dog at the last minute.

The famous sidekick in Wallace and Gromit was planned to be a cat, but was turned into a dog at the last minute. It was a close shave for the intelligent canine, who, together with his inventor of a master, has been entertaining an audience of 15 million in Britain.  

Nick Park, creator of the animated show, recently revealed how he came up with the show: “I had this idea about this guy who builds a rocket in the basement of his house, and would blast off through a sequence of trap doors, for a joke.” 

“Then I thought he had to have an assistant. So I drew a cat called Gromit.”

In the end, Park opted to use a dog instead because it was simpler to design when it was time to model the character out of clay. He also had access to materials that could make a dog easier to make, “I had a packet of dog’s noses from a craft shop on me…so Gromit became a dog.”

The character was changed right on the first day of filming. 

The evolution of the character was also influenced by the limitations of the production. The character of Gromit was originally planned to be a bouncy, extrovert character, but Park revealed that the character was “too hard to move.” Thus, they settled on just moving his brow, which also became a trademark for the character. 

“Suddenly he came a contrast – a child more intelligent than his father,” Park said.

Park also revealed details regarding the forthcoming classical music event for the duo, to be called Wallace and Gromit Prom.