BBC viewers who settled in to watch the latest Wallace and Gromit film were left 'terrified' by the broadcast and took to social media to voice their complaints.
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, which premiered on BBC One and iPlayer at 6:10 pm on Christmas Day (December 25), brought back a character who still sends shivers down the spines of many viewers: the silent villain, Feathers McGraw.
First introduced in the 1993 short The Wrong Trousers, Feathers was imprisoned for attempting to steal a diamond, reports the Mirror. In the latest adventure, Feathers plots his escape from the city zoo, seeking revenge.
The film's synopsis teases: "Gromit's concern that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his inventions proves justified, when Wallace invents a 'smart' gnome that seems to develop a mind of its own. When it emerges that a vengeful figure from the past might be masterminding things, it falls to Gromit to battle sinister forces and save his master... or Wallace may never be able to invent again."
As viewers watched the highly anticipated film, they couldn't help but revisit their childhood fears. One fan shared: "Reliving my childhood and rediscovering my fear of Feathers McGraw."
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Another BBC viewer chimed in: "Pretty sure the penguin from Wallace and Gromit was one of the scariest villains from childhood."
"That Feathers penguin chap in Wallace and Gromit used to scare me as a child and today as an adult it still haunts me," shared a third viewer, expressing their long-standing fear of the character.
Interestingly, some viewers have found the gnomes in the latest Wallace and Gromit film even more unsettling than Feathers McGraw.
One alarmed fan exclaimed on social media: "Nightmares at this Wallace and Gromit me, them gnomes are f****** terrifying," while another remarked with horror: "This gnome robot in the new Wallace and Gromit is f****** SCARY oh my god and his black eyes? No thank you."
Someone else drew parallels to the dystopian Netflix series Black Mirror, writing: "Wallace and Gromit giving me the Black Mirror creepies."
Feathers McGraw has been an unexpected source of fear for Wallace and Gromit fans, a fact that Aardman animator Nick Park finds quite surprising. Speaking to the Independent, he revealed his astonishment at the intensity of some fans' aversion to the character.
"Over the years, I've been constantly surprised by the amount of people who genuinely hate him [Feathers McGraw]," Park said. "But look," he continued. "He's only a four-inch tall piece of plasticine."
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is available to watch on BBC iPlayer and premieres globally on Netflix from January 3, 2025
