Cracking voice, Gromit: Dog to speak at last

He's graced our screens for almost 40 years, but has never said a word - until now.

Since 1989 Gromit, the animated dog from Bristol's Aardman Animations, has shared adventures with his cheese-loving owner Wallace, from spaceflight to being pursued by robotic garden gnomes.

And now Gromit, created by Nick Park, will speak for the first time in an audiobook voiced by actor Martin Freeman.

Park said the actor, who rose to fame in The Office and went on to star in the BBC Drama Sherlock and films such as Love Actually and The Hobbit, was "the obvious choice really."

Park said he was "genuinely thrilled and honoured when he [Freeman] said yes."

The hardback and audiobook, published by Ebury, is called Grand: The Autobiography of Gromit - as told to Nick Park.

"He is not doing a Gromit 'voice' as such," Park explained.

"He's reading Gromit's story as Gromit put it; his inner thoughts, his candid insights and endless witticisms bringing to them his usual colour, thoughtfulness and wry humour."

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