Creature Comforts was originally a 1989 British humorous animated short film about how animals feel about living in a zoo, featuring the voices of the British public "spoken" by the animals. It was created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations. The film later became the basis of a series of television advertisements for the UK Electricity Board, and in 2003 a television series in the same style was released. An American version of the series was also made.

The original film[link]

The original 5-minute film Creature Comforts was conceived and directed by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations featuring the voices of British non-actors in the same vein as the "man on the street" Vox Pop interviews. It was produced as part of a series called Lip Synch for Channel 4. The film won Nick Park the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1990.

The film shows various animals in a zoo being interviewed about their living conditions. These include turtles, a female gorilla, a family of polar bears, and a Brazilian Tiger who complains about the "lack of space" and the "grass with pollen that gives me hay fever every day!"

The dialogue was created by interviewing residents of a housing development, an old people's home and a family that lived in a local shop (the polar bears). Clay animation was then created that attributed the answers to zoo animals. One of the most popular characters was the Mountain Lion. He was in fact a Brazilian student who lived in a hotel and was talking about his own situation. (Source: DVD audio commentary).

The advertisements[link]

In 1990 Nick Park worked with Phil Rylance and Paul Cardwell to develop a series of British television advertisements for the Electricity Board's "Heat Electric" campaign. The creative team of advertising agency GGK had seen the original Creature Comforts film and were hugely impressed by it. They were convinced that a series of short films modelled on the original film would be ideally suited to television advertising – as long as the advertising was handled with sufficient sensitivity to preserve the integrity and charm of Park's work. The initial result of their collaboration was three 30-second Creature Comforts advertisements, made in the same style as the original film. This led to a series.

Although there had been a tradition of vox pop advertisements going back to the soap powder adverts of the 1960s, the Creature Comforts series was distinctive in its juxtaposition of real-life dialogue and animated creatures. The series featured a variety of endearing plasticine animals, including a tortoise, a cat, a family of penguins and a Brazilian parrot. The characters were seen in their own domestic settings, chatting to an unseen interviewer behind a large microphone.

The characters' dialogue was obtained by taking tape recordings of everyday people talking about the comfort and benefits of the electrical appliances in their homes and then using extracts of these – complete with pauses, false starts, repetitions, hesitations and unscripted^{[citation needed]} use of language (such as "easily turn-off-and-on-able"). The selected interviewees spoke in a range of down-to-earth regional accents, and the overall effect was of natural conversation.^[1] The adverts' warm and cosy tone reflected the warmth and homeliness of central heating.

There was a charm about the animations, with their quirky humour and sharpness of observation - such as in the antics of the non-speaking characters and in the odd little things happening in the background. The animations had an unusual expressiveness, with the wit often coming from tiny nuances - such as a dog scratching his ear at a particular moment. The characterisation was strengthened by having each voice carefully matched to a suitable animal in a combination that would produce a memorable impact. These features were rounded off by a gentle closing voice-over spoken by Johnny Morris. Morris appealed especially to older audiences, who would remember him and his animal conversations on the television programme Animal Magic.

The campaign was a great success^[2] and its run was extended over three years. The advertisements received critical acclaim within the advertising industry – with Park, Rylance and Cardwell picking up many top creative awards in Europe and America, including "Best Commercial of the Year" in the 1991 British Television Advertising Awards and "Most Outstanding European Campaign" in the 1991 D&AD Europe Awards. In fact Creature Comforts was subsequently voted by media professionals (in leading trade outlets Marketing and Brand Republic) as one of the top television advertisements of the last 50 years.^[3]

As well as attaining a very high level of viewer recall, the advertisements were much loved – particularly the ones involving Frank (the tortoise), Carol (the cat) and Pablo (the parrot). In awarding them a place in The 100 best British ads of the century, the UK's leading advertising journal Campaign commented "The power of a campaign which can make consumers feel warm towards a utility cannot be underestimated".^[4] The many popular awards won by the Creature Comforts advertisements included being voted fourth in the alltime 100 Greatest TV Ads by readers of The Sunday Times and viewers of Channel 4 in 2000.^[5] Their position among the classic advertisements of British television was confirmed when Creature Comforts was voted fourth in ITV’s Best Ever Adverts by viewers of ITV in 2005.^[6] Finally, in a YouGov survey during 2006, Creature Comforts topped the list of the UK's alltime favourite animated or puppet characters used in adverts.^[7]

The Creature Comforts advertisements have now attained a place in popular culture, and are probably better remembered than the original film that spawned them.^[8] However, it is claimed that many members of the public mistakenly remember the commercials as advertising gas heating, the main competitor to electricity.^[9]

Influences[link]

The Creature Comforts advertisements were produced in the period 1990 to 1992 and in some ways they were indicative of the shape of things to come in British television advertising. Many commentators believe that there was a fundamental shift in television advertising from the unbridled consumerism and egoism of the 1980s to what is sometimes termed a more "caring" approach in the 1990s. The Creature Comforts advertisements are cited as an early example of this phenomenon.^[10]

The format of the Creature Comforts advertisements was so successful that it was replicated in other campaigns in the following decades. In later years, however, members of the public became increasingly conscious of the potential uses of their vox pop interviews.^[11] This made it difficult to recapture the spontaneity and innocence of the early Creature Comforts advertisements. Although lookalike animations became relatively commonplace in television advertisements, they were usually scripted and rarely possessed the painstaking attention to detail of the original advertisements.^{[citation needed]}

Credits[link]

• Director: Nick Park
• Creative Director: Nick Fordham
• Art Directors: Phil Rylance, Newy Brothwell
• Writers: Paul Cardwell, Kim Durdant-Hollamby

The series[link]

In 2003 a series of Creature Comforts films directed by Richard Goleszowski was made for British television network ITV by Aardman Animations. The series has since aired as repeats on Comedy Central, usually late at night. Starting in 2005 it has also aired in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in The Netherlands on Veronica, on pay-TV channel US.TV, and on Internet peer-to-peer TV Joost Aardman Animations Channel.

A 30 minute special in which the regular characters attempt to perform and interpret the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was first aired on 25 December 2005. The special was broadcast in Canada on the CBC on 26 December 2005.

Humour pervades all aspects of the series, for example:

• A highly philosophical speech given by an amoeba.
• An alligator praising her neighbourhood, the sewer.
• Animals being scared of their own habitat (aquaphobic sharks and walruses, birds afraid of heights, etc.)
• Background details such as:
  • Insects swarming into a gap in the paving stones when a slug mimics a bird call.
  • Grey aliens blinking in unison.
  • A lab mouse being interviewed while another mouse with a human ear on his back walks by.

The series gently mocks the constructed performance sometimes given by members of the general public when being interviewed for television vox-pops and documentaries. This includes the attempts to present a cogent but simple conclusive answer to a general question - a sound bite - and the attempts to present a cheery spin on a complex issue while the subject attempts to hide their personal issues and problems with the issue.

The Series is now currently^[when?] being Repeated On G.O.L.D.

Regular characters[link]

The following characters are among those who make regular appearances throughout the first series. These animals are always portrayed by the same interviewees to maintain consistency throughout the series. Most returned for the second season.

• Pickles - A guide dog who has a very optimistic outlook on life. Her laugh is very high-pitched and exaggerated.
• Fluffy - A depressed, cynical and pessimistic hamster from Catford.
• Clement - An elderly Bloodhound. He often talks about his past life experiences, mainly with doctors.
• Trixie and Captain Cuddlepuss - Trixie is a dog and Captain Cuddlepuss is a cat. They frequently argue and bicker like a bored married couple, and are the most recurring regular characters in the series.
• Gary and Nigel - Two garden slugs who mostly talk about plants and gardening.
• Victor - Introduced in the second series, Victor is a friendly Geordie mouse, and while his voice and speech patterns come across as intimidating, he is actually nice and laid-back.
• Frank - An elderly tortoise. He originally appeared in the Heat Electric adverts, and was brought into the main series because of his popularity.
• Sid and Nancy - Two rats that live in a garden shed. Like Trixie and Cuddlepuss, they bicker amongst themselves like a married couple.
• Brian and Keith - A pair of Staffordshire Bull Terriers who are brothers.
• Muriel and Catherine - A pair of elderly, senile bats who live in a belfry.
• Brian - An amoeba seen through a microscope. Despite being an extremely primitive lifeform, Brian has a highly philosophical view on life.
• Behzad - An Arab Stallion who works as both a police horse and for the Queen's Guard.
• Spanner and Trousers - Two stray dogs who hang around in a skip.

Miscellaneous[link]

A special short was aired in the UK as part of Red Nose Day 2007.^[12]

American version[link]

Starting June 2007, CBS planned to broadcast seven episodes of an Americanized version of the show, featuring ordinary American people providing the voices, in the same vein as the British original. The series was titled Creature Comforts and was seen Monday nights at 8PM ET/PT from 4 June to 18 June 2007 (only three episodes were broadcast due to low ratings, and was replaced with reruns of The New Adventures Of Old Christine);^[13] the series was also simulcast in Canada on the CH system.

CBS also created a web presence with the help of the Creature Comforts staff. A behind-the-scenes collaborative account/blog of each episode was posted in conjunction with the 3 short-lived airings.^[14]

The American version was co-produced by Aardman Animations and The Gotham Group.

Seven episodes of this series were produced. However, the series ran for only three episodes before being cancelled by CBS due to low ratings.^[15] Its remaining episodes were later premiered on Animal Planet in 2008 (see below).

A standard DVD of the show's seven episodes was released on 9 October 2007 by Sony, now entitled Creature Comforts America. Currently there is no Blu-ray version, even though the show was mastered in 1080 HD 16x9.^[16]

On 8 February 2008, the show won an Annie Award for "Best Animated Television Production" of 2007.^[17]

In Australia, public broadcaster ABC Television began airing the American season in Australia on 18 February 2008, having aired the original British version since its inception on both ABC1 and the digital only ABC2.

On 24 April 2008, Animal Planet picked-up the first season of the American version. It was broadcast in both SD letterbox and native HD formats. Episodes 1&2 premiered on 24 April, Episodes 3&4 premiered on 1 May and Episodes 5&6 premiered on 9 May.

Creature Comforts was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)" but on 13 September 2008, it lost out to The Simpsons. Teresa Drilling, one of the show's many animators, won an individual Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation".

US version staff[link]

• Executive Producers: Kit Boss, Miles Bullough, Peter McHugh, David Sproxton, Peter Lord, Nick Park
• Producers: Kenny Micka, Gareth Owen
• Story Editors: Chad Carter, June Raphael, Casey Wilson
• Writers: Kit Boss, Chad Carter, Michael Dougan, Ben Stout, June Raphael, Casey Wilson
• Directors: David Osmand, Merlin Crossingham

[edit] Creature Discomforts

A series of four ads highlighting disability and featuring the voices of disabled people telling of their experiences premiered on ITV on Christmas Day 2007. Four more ads featuring new characters debuted in Summer 2008.^[18][19]

DVD releases[link]

DVD Title	Country of Release	Region	Date of Release	DVD company	Catalog Number	Notes
Creature Comforts	United Kingdom	1	28 November 2000	Image Entertainment	ID0106CUDVD	The original 1989 film presented in widescreen. Also includes the other Aardman animations Wat's Pig, Not Without My Handbag and Adam
Creature Comforts — Series 1, Part 1	United Kingdom	2	17 November 2003	Momentum Pictures		The first half of Series 1, the original 1989 film, and other extras
Creature Comforts — Series 1, Part 2	United Kingdom	2	5 April 2004	Momentum Pictures		The second half of Series 1, featuring many extras including ITV1 idents, Heat Electric ads, and more
Creature Comforts — The Complete First Season	United States	1	27 September 2005	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment	08694	Features the original 1989 film in full-screen as an extra
Creature Comforts — Complete Series 1	United Kingdom	2	31 October 2005	Momentum Pictures		2-disc set of the first series.
Creature Comforts — Series 2, Part 1	United Kingdom	2	21 November 2005	Momentum Pictures		First half of Series 2, plus many making of extras.
Creature Comforts — Series 2, Part 2	United Kingdom	2	20 February 2006	Momentum Pictures		Second half of Series 2, plus extras
Creature Comforts — The Complete Second Season	United States	1	24 October 2006	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment	14823	2-disc set of the Second Series and the "Merry Christmas, Everybody" DVD release [see below]
Creature Comforts — Merry Christmas Everybody	United States	1	24 October 2006	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment		Also included in the Second Series DVD release
Creature Comforts — The Complete First and Second Seasons	United States	1	24 October 2006	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment		2-Disc set of the First and Second Series
Creature Comforts — Complete Series 2	United Kingdom	2	6 November 2006	Momentum Pictures		3-disc set of the Second Series and "Merry Christmas Everybody"
Creature Comforts America — The Complete First Season	United States	1	9 October 2007	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment		The seven episodes made for the cancelled American version

The TV Series (UK Version) is now available to watch on the official Aardman Youtube channel. ([1])

See also[link]

• List of Creature Comforts episodes

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Creature Comforts

Look up creature comfort in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Creature Comforts Official website
• Creature Comforts (episodes)
• "Watch the original Oscar winning Creature Comforts online" at AtomFilms
• Creature Comforts (1989) at the Internet Movie Database
• Creature Comforts (2003 series) at the Internet Movie Database
• Creature Comforts (2007 American series) at the Internet Movie Database
• Article about CBS winning TV rights