Wallace and Gromit take on beaked diamond thief Feathers McGraw once again in their latest Christmas caper.

It’s allmost twenty years since their last feature-length outing, and 31 years since we met McGraw, but Vengeance Most Fowl proves that Wallace (Ben Whitehead) and Gromit (Buster Keaton) are timeless, and not just because they live in a never-changing middle England town with faces made of plastic.

This time the story is driven by Norbot – a robotic gnome Wallace creates to help Gromit in the garden. But the gnome is almost too good, and when McGraw manages to hack into it remotely he sends Wallace and Gromit’s peaceful life into chaos.

The story lends the film a surprising amount of currency, as it explores themes of over-dependence on technology, particularly technology we don’t fully understand. This is a stroke of genius as Wallace – for whom no job is too small for an elaborate invention – is so well-suited to this topic that it’s a wonder they haven’t done it before.

The animation is faultless. Endlessly detailed, smooth and richly textured, Aardman continue to push their craft to new heights. It’s also funny throughout, though just as often provoking groans as fully belly laughs. McGraw is a welcome return – another mute character allowing many brilliant sight gags. Less welcome is Norbot the gnome, who never stops being irritating.

After their last feature-length outing, Aardman supremo Nick Park vowed not to work with Dreamworks again following extensive changes to make the film palateable for American audiences. Now Park is back on the BBC, and delivers a film as British as the corporation’s name would suggest. And he and co-director Steve Box ensure this is as fresh as newly-churned Wenslydale.