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Morph to star in Ashes to Ashes

Morph being animated by a pair of hands
  • Posted at 3:47pm
  • 28 April 2009
  • by DannyScott-RT
  • 3 comments

Of all the high-profile guests on Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, few come with such malleable features as TV legend Morph. Just six inches high and made of brown Plasticine, Morph provided the fledgling Aardman Animations studio with its first sniff of success in 1976 (nearly ten years before Nick Park joined the company), when he debuted on kids' art show Take Hart.

Morph's appearance in next week's Ashes (Monday 4 May) lasts barely 15 seconds; Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) has a surprisingly shocking and sinister encounter with him via her television - but it took Aardman director Darren Robbie over a week to film the sequence.

"On something like Wallace & Gromit," Robbie explains, "the models have metal skeletons and large metal arms that help keep them in position - all of which have to be digitally 'painted' out by computer. Morph really is just a ball of Plasticine. You plonk his feet on the floor and hope he stays in place. It reminds you that animation is not about fancy equipment; it's all about ideas."

"In the old days, we would make Morph by hand," recalls Robbie. "He had an exact weight - 98 grams. You'd weigh your clay and sculpt from that. If you look back over the years, you can tell he's been made by different animators. Now we have a press mould, we can make him a lot quicker."

Many of Aardman's original models and props were destroyed in a warehouse fire in 2005, but luckily Morph's house - a wooden pencil case - belonged to Aardman co-founder Peter Lord, so Robbie was able to use it in the clip (you can just see it on Alex Drake's TV screen). The set-up also shows how simple it is to film the little guy. As Robbie says: "A table, a camera, a couple of lights and one animator - Morph really does take you back to basics."

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Are you a Morph fan looking forward to seeing him back on TV? Post a comment below and let us know.

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Comments

  • Posted on 07 May 2009
  • at 9:50pm
  • by Rik

well i would use "sinister" loosely, as in about as sinister as you'd expect from a character like morph.

I showed some clips of morph to my 7 year old brother and he loves it!

  • Posted on 07 May 2009
  • at 8:46am
  • by judi

Awwww Morph, he is so cute. I remeber him aswell, from when I was young and I'm 42! He is getting on a bit, our Morph.

I can't imagine him ever being sinister so I am interested to see how they make such a cute little fella appear so?

  • Posted on 06 May 2009
  • at 4:06pm
  • by Rik

I saw this clip and it was great to see him on TV again even for only a short clip. I remember him from when i was younger and i'm only 22 now!

I have never seen such a sinister morph though!

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