Wallace and Gromit fans may be in a spot of bother after the creator’s clay supplier, based in Newton Abbot, shut its doors for good earlier this year. 

Aardman, the Bristol-based stop-motion animation studio behind classics such as Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Shaun the Sheep had been using Newclay Products, based in Newton Abbot as their sole supplier of clay. 

After 16 years of running the business out of Cavalier Road on Heathfield Industrial Estate, directors Paul and Valerie Dearing decided to call time in March. However, Paul Dearing told the Telegraph: ‘We couldn’t find anyone who wanted to take over the firm after we retired so we sold off everything.’

Academy Award-winning Aardman is currently working on a new film, involving an out-of-control ‘smart gnome’, due to hit screens in 2024. With a reported 400kg of clay left, this could be the last film. 

However, Aardman told fans not to worry, stating on X: ‘We have high levels of existing stocks of modelling clay to service current and future productions and, much like Wallace in his workshop, we have been tinkering away for quite some time to ensure a smooth transition to new stocks.’