Un-baa-lievable! Shaun the Sheep is a Town fan

A beloved animated character has been revealed as a supporter of a certain Suffolk Premier League football team by the man who helped him become a huge success.

Shaun the Sheep, created by Aardman Animations, first appeared in the award-winning Wallace and Gromit film, A Close Shave, in 1995.

Solo success followed after the firm's first employee, Richard Starzak, from Ipswich, devised, wrote and directed a spin-off series and co-wrote and co-directed a movie.

The 67-year-old spoke to the BBC in celebration of Aardman's 50th anniversary and confirmed that Shaun – like him – was a huge fan of the Tractor Boys.

"Yeah, of course [he is an Ipswich fan] - I was directing the movie and was determined to get something of Ipswich into that - I think it was a scarf on one set," he said.

"But unluckily, and necessarily, it was cut from the film at the end so I never quite achieved it.

"I did a couple of drawings of Shaun the Sheep and Ipswich Town got in touch and invited me to some games and they hung them in their boardroom, which was nice."

Starzak's first foray into the world of animation came while studying fine art at Exeter College of Art and Design, where he "experimented" with stop frame animation.

He joined Aardman in 1983 after moving to Bristol to make his own film before meeting the firm's founders, Peter Lord and David Sproxton.

"I really wanted to have a go at it, but I just didn't imagine it would be a career," said Starzak, who is "more or less retired now".

"Pete and Dave came to see what I was doing and gave me a couple of weeks of work, so I thought it would be that, but I've been there ever since."

That career ended up lasting decades and saw him direct two series of Creature Comforts and turn Shaun the Sheep – created by Nick Park - into a household name.

The movie, released in 2015, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, while the series won an International Emmy Award five times.

"Its popularity was really obvious and I was lucky enough to be given the chance to come up with an idea that could generate lots of stories, which is quite difficult," he said.

"I feel like Nick gave birth to Shaun and I put him through college."

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