BBC set for very Gromit Christmas

The film sees Wallace and Gromit on the trail of a deadly "cereal killer"

Cartoon favourites Wallace and Gromit will return to BBC One at Christmas with their latest half-hour adventure.

A Matter of Loaf and Death sees inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit open a bakery.

It reunites Oscar-winning animator Nick Park with Bob Baker, co-writer of The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave.

"Over the years, the BBC has been incredibly supportive of Wallace and Gromit," said Park. "This film feels like their homecoming."

The film - originally entitled Trouble At' Mill - marks Wallace and Gromit's first appearance since their 2005 film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Peter Sallis will again provide the voice of Wallace with Coronation Street star Sally Lindsay playing his new love interest Piella Bakewell.

'Who-doughnut'

"I love making films for the cinema but the production of Chicken Run and Curse of the Were-Rabbit were virtually back to back," said Park.

"Each film took five years to complete," he continued, saying A Matter of Loaf and Death had been "so much quicker to make."

BBC One controller Jay Hunt said she was "delighted" to be premiering the latest instalment which she promised would be "unmissable family entertainment".

The film is described as "a classic 'who-doughnut' mystery... in the tradition of master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock".