Shaun the Sheep - a few facts you did'nt know! The character first appeared in the 1995 Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit short film A Close Shave. Sucked into Wallace's Knit-o-matic contraption, the sheep is accidentally shorn, so Wallace names him "Shaun" (a pun as "Shaun" sounds identical to "shorn" . Shaun later appeared in the 2002 series Cracking Contraptions episode, "Shopper 13", ostensibly to rescue a wayward wheel of cheese. The popularity of the character, as expressed in the success of Shaun the Sheep merchandise, led to the commissioning of an initial 40 seven-minute episodes by Michael Carrington at the BBC.
A second series of 40 episodes began on 23 November 2009 on BBC One and BBC HD. Some characters also appeared in two idents for the relaunched CBBC.
In 2008 Aardman Animation was awarded the International Emmy for Shaun the Sheep in the Children & Young People
For more information please see Shaun the Sheep. .
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