Whereas I found the original 'Creature Comforts' feature (which itself evolved out of the 'Lip Synch' series in 1989) to be clever and mildly amusing, I always got the feeling that everyone else was getting it more than I was. It seemed to suffer from the 'experimental', not-quite-right feel of some of the earlier Aardman works. So I was delighted to find that 13 years on, the concept, now taken to a TV series, is perfected, injected with a much better comic sensibility, and is in just about all respects damn near perfect.

The concept is the same as the original short, but now animals are 'interviewed' about any old thing, any old place, rather than sticking to a specific concept (the zoo setting). Some episodes are themed, but that's ok. In fact, I even really liked the Christmas specials - and me liking anything to do with Christmas is almost unheard of. The feel is perhaps a little more relaxed and less hard-edged than the 1990 short, but the result is that the series is consistently funny and interesting rather than just interesting and intermittenly funny.

IMO this is Aardman close to the peak of their form. The original 'Creature Comforts' concept, now comfortable, relaxed, without affecting artistic pretentions, and just plain hilarious and relentlessly entertaining. Only the second two Wallace and Gromit shorts spring to mind as superior. Brilliant, very, very funny, absolutely must-see stuff for anyone who likes anything Aardman.