Wallace & Gromit: the Scottish composer who soundtracked the most anticipated film of the year

However, I’d bet that almost everyone in Scotland will be glued to the latest Wallace & Gromit film, Vengeance Most Fowl, which will be screened on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 6.10pm.

After all, this duo are animation royalty.

While watching Aardman’s latest stop-motion shenanigans, they’ll hear the music of Grammy-award winning and BAFTA nominated Scottish composer, Lorne Balfe, 48, from Inverness. He wrote the music - recorded at Abbey Road Recording Studios - in collaboration with Julian Nott.

Balfe has over 100 film scores to his name, and this is just one of the many projects that he’s been working on this year.

In fact, back in February, I spoke to him about the disco-influenced soundtrack for blockbuster film, Argylle, and since then, he’s completed the music for Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, and Mission:Impossible Dead Reckoning, amongst others.

However, this could be his most exciting project of the year.

“Well, my history with Wallace & Gromit was that I worked on The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005, so that was my introduction to their world,” he says. “I'm a massive fan and they’re quintessentially British. It's something that I think every generation relates to, whether it's grandparents or children. So that's why you want to do these projects, because they hit so many people's hearts”.

The new film is a significant launch, not only because it’s released on Christmas, but it’s also the first Wallace & Gromit production since the 2008 short, A Matter of Loaf and Death.

Thus, Balfe and Nott didn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but instead created the soundtrack as an homage to the familiar franchise, which started in 1989 with A Grand Day Out and includes The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995), not to mention all the spin-offs and television adaptations.

“It's honoring the past. It's very much bringing those old themes back,” says Balfe, who had a music scholarship to Edinburgh’s Fettes College. “The films all have that element of the old-school film noir, Hitchcock and the northern brass band feeling”.

Unfortunately, Balfe has to keep schtum about the exact storyline of the newest release.

No spoilers, yet, as the team are as precious of this tale as Wallace is of his last nugget of Wensleydale.

The only thing you can watch before the big day are the trailers. These include BBC’s short taster, and a comprehensive version from Netflix, as the film is due to land on the platform next year, on January 3.

This reveals that we will be re-introduced to characters including rubber-glove-wearing criminal penguin, Feathers McGraw, originally from The Wrong Trousers, who is in jail after being found guilty of attempted robbery. There’s also a brand new character - Wallace's new ‘smart gnome’ called Norbot, who has been designed to help with the gardening and ‘gnome improvement’ but soon turns evil thanks to the sinister McGraw’s meddling.

This trailer is teamed with an orchestral soundtrack, and it seems that Norbot can play the bagpipes, as there’s even a wee skirl. We suspect he may be part Scottish.

“There’s an element of Scottishness, and it's very fortunate that there's a big bagpipe scene. We did manage to do some recordings in Glasgow for that with piper Lorne MacDougall. He’s exceptional, and I’ve worked with him a few times, so I knew I’d have to get him on the film, and I’ve never met another Lorne,” Balfe says.

Of course, as part of his creative process, this composer had to visit Aardman Studios in Bristol, to actually meet the directors, as well as Wallace & Gromit themselves.

This is also where they made Chicken Run (2000) - the highest grossing stop-motion animation of all time.

“Your research is basically watching all the shorts and also spending time with Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, and going to Aardman, seeing how they work. This way of filmmaking doesn't exist any longer. It's very time consuming, but also very unique and special,” Balfe says. “When you visit, you get to see the amazing teams that are there, who are creating these scenes by hand. And that's where the inspiration comes from. You see the attention to detail and the love that they put into making these things. So that really becomes your research. It's an emotional group of characters that belong in this world”.

The most familiar reprise in the film will probably be the original Wallace & Gromit theme song, which was written by Nott and first appeared in A Grand Day Out. It appears at the beginning and end credits of all the films and has no official title, but, once heard, is known for sticking in your head and taking up permanent residence. Apparently, it was even used as an alarm call to wake up astronauts on the STS-132 space shuttle in 2010. It’s that iconic.

“At the heart, the hardest job is done because you've got that amazing earworm of a theme that everybody already knows, so now it's just helping underscore the story,” says Balfe, who adds that he hears that theme song most mornings, as his daughter always sings it.

How does one write an addictive song like that?

“Nobody knows. If they knew that, we'd all be doing it. I think you just create what you feel is tasteful. If you ever say to a songwriter, write me a hit, I don't think that there is a formula to it. You've just got to write what feels good to you,” he says. “This year, I've been surrounded by earworms. I've worked on the Beverly Hills Cop Axel F soundtrack, which has been very much an earworm for the last two two years, constantly in my house, and Mission: Impossible was the same”.

Vengeance Most Fowl was a chance for two earworm virtuosos to re-unite.

As well as The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Nott and Balfe have worked together on other projects, including 2010 adventure film, How to Train Your Dragon.

“Julian Nott is amazing. He's written, not only this, but the likes of Ben and Holly and some of the most famous kids’ themes out there. We wanted to do it together so that it was also fun., as it’s great working with somebody,” Balfe says.

Although this tireless composer will be pressing pause on Christmas Day, and watching the film on the sofa with his family - ‘like everybody else’ - he will be returning to Scotland in 2025 for something unrelated to Wallace & Gromit.

On March 1, 2025, he’ll be appearing with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, where they’ll be performing his score Top Gun: Maverick. He made his live conducting debut with that show earlier this year, and it’s already toured to London’s Albert Hall, Lucerne in Switzerland and Manchester.

Despite his busy schedule, his love for his job is undiminished.

“I've always looked at it as a hobby that I get paid for - writing music is just a passion, and it's something that I get great enjoyment and escapism from,” he says. “The day it becomes a job, I think, is when I'll retire. I've designed it so that my studio is in my home, because that's where I spend my time, and that's where I'm based. I’m fortunate to do something that is of interest to others”.

Balfe’s other great passion is Inverness-based charity Highland Hospice, who cared for his late father in his last days.

He’s in the process of planning an auction to raise money for the cause.

“It's going to include lots of film-related things from Mission: Impossible and Top Gun and all the proceeds are going to go towards the hospice,” he says. “And for the event that we're organizing, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, will perform at it, so it's about really kind of trying to kind of celebrate the best of Scottish”.

www.highlandhospice.org