Bebo

Callum the Chameleon is just one of six new characters currently being created for the next series of Creature Discomforts animations. The animations will be available on this site from early July, but here’s a sneak peek at the development process.

First, we interviewed dozens of disabled people about their experiences, and from these, we selected six individuals who will voice the characters. Christopher is the voice of Callum.

Next, the team at Aardman Animation think what character would go with that voice. For Christopher, who is visually impaired, they came up with a chameleon, who we’ve called Callum.

Meanwhile, the modellers at Aardman have been turning the sketch of Callum into a three dimensional plasticine figure.

I was impressed with the first series of Creature Discomforts. It gave the general public a light-hearted but firm insight into disability. The characters couldn’t have been better picked. I was the voice for Flash the Sausage dog. It was great to be part of it, because no one initially knew what the voice recordings would lead to. The unbelievable thing was that we used to breed sausage dogs - how strange is that?

I think Creature Discomforts is a step towards changing people’s perception of disABLED people because it portrays all of us as one, and we do have a brain for want of a better word. Obviously, it will take more time and more of the campaign to get the message over - we do have a voice and hopefully continual campaigning will do the trick, let’s hope so. It has definitely got the general public in my area talking about it. On the few occasions I have been into shops, people have commented “I’ve heard your voice before, aren’t you the sausage dog in the TV advertisements?”. So, it shows people are paying attention to what is happening in the world of disability.

I hope series 2 will be even better, I’m sure it will. I think Leonard Cheshire Disability chose Aardman Animations as an excellent vehicle for re-branding of the organisation. This being said I think it was unintentionally based on wheelchair users rather than including other disabilities whether they need crutches, walking sticks or no aid at all.

After I did the TV interviews for series one their switchboard had been jammed with people saying it should have been more broad based into disability including other disabilities. I hope with series two this will be sorted.

Alex Milhaly, voice of Flash the Sausage Dog