'A Close Shave' is the third and last of Nick Park's amazing trilogy of claymation shorts a series that earned him a reverential cult following which spilled well over into the mainstream.

Almost, but not quite as dazzling as 'The Wrong Trousers', 'A Close Shave' would have been considered a work of genius if not for the probably unbeatable quality of its predecessor.

Everything still works, and it's still hilarious and brilliantly realised. It's just that it doesn't quite have that extra zap of brilliance which 'The Wrong Trousers' had. But that's a bit like talking about the second-best Beatles album.