First there was Wensleydale, now it’s Stinking Bishop! More about these cheeses later…

So who are the dynamic duo pictured here? Wallace & Gromit are 2 characters in a series of claymation shorts from Britain. They are the creation from the same guy who made “Chicken Run.” Wallace is a basically a dimwit inventor; Gromit is his dog and also the real brain of the duo. Wallace likes cheese (a lot) and often gets himself in trouble only to be rescued by clever Gromit. Gromit doesn’t talk and only communicate with his facial expressions.

I first saw W&G shorts on PBS on one of their pledge drives in the ’90’s and I was rolling with laughter, hadn’t seen anything so hilarious! The fact that they were claymation was pretty bizarre then. It takes over a decade but a feature length W&G movie finally are hitting the big screen– it opens today. In these days of computer generated animation from Pixar & Disney, it’s refreshing to see animation made with good ol’ chunks of clay.

So now back to the references of the cheeses… So Wallace is really a big fan of cheese and his choice of cheese has been Wensleydale. The popularity of the film shorts propelled the cheese to be the best selling cheese in Britain for a number of years. In fact, Wensleydale Creamery claimed that W&G saved it from bankruptcy.

In the new movie, Wallace’s new cheese obsession is called Stinking Bishop. Being mentioned in a W&G movie makes Charles Mattell both happy and very nervous because he doesn’t think his small creamery will be able to cope with the surge of demand. His orders are already up 1200% even before the movie was released. He has a refreshing take on the whole thing:

“I’m quite happy with what I’ve got at the moment. I don’t need more money. I can only wear one suit at a time, or drive one car. And I certainly don’t want fame, ” said the cheese maker.

This movie will be a big hit. How can it not with a cheese named Stinking Bishop?!?! 😉 I can’t wait to take Katelyn to go see it with us this Sunday!