Article: Fowl play; Chicken Run was backed by Dreamworks; Brian Sibley wrote a book about the shoot. Nick Smurthwaite thinks Aardman is about to hatch a blockbuster.

It all started 30 years ago in Nick Park's back yard in Preston. There were these three chickens called Martha, Clara and Penny. They were never meant to be eaten, rather kept as pets.

"My sister and I used to lure them into the house and make up stories about them," recalls Park. Some of these stories have now found their way into Chicken Run, the most ambitious film yet by the creator of Wallace and Gromit. To be more accurate, it's the biggest undertaking so far for Aardman Animations, which produced those exquisitely funny half-hour, Oscar-winning classics The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave.

This new film is Aardman's first feature-length ...

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