On this day back in 2010 the 30th episode of season two of Shaun the Sheep was broadcast by the BBC. Based on characters created by the legendary Nick Park, (spun off from a one-off appearance in a Wallace & Gromit special) the incredibly successful Aardman Animation series was created by Richard Starzak and developed by him, Alison Snowden and David Fine. What they developed was a genuinely funny silent comedy series that adults got as much of a kick out of as the kids do. Even so, I didn’t discover it myself until a Christmas special many years later.

Now part of my yearly festivities, I was sore from laughing so much the first (and subsequent times) watching it and went on to view the two full-length movies and several of the regular episodes. Now, after the announcement of a long-awaited new series in 2025, the OiNK Blog is taking a close look at one episode in particular, called The Big Chase. Why has Shaun appeared on the blog? It can’t just be because there are pigs involved. Here’s a hint.

That’s right, that’s co-creator and co-editor of OiNK, Patrick Gallagher. He and fellow writer Craig Ferguson created what is a fan favourite to this day and one which encapsulates the madcap hilarity I love so much on the show. To mark the 14th anniversary of its original broadcast I asked Patrick about writing the story and working on the series and his insights make for great reading.

If you’re unfamiliar with Shaun, he’s what’s described as “an unusually clever sheep” who tries to bring a bit of fun and excitement to the mundane daily life on Mossy Bottom Farm (a name which wouldn’t have felt out of place in an OiNK strip). This usually results in lots of frantic slapstick involving Shaun and all of the ensemble cast of sheep, as well as sheepdog Bitzer (my personal favourite) and the dimwitted and completely unaware human, The Farmer. While Bitzer is constantly trying to keep the sheep in line, the friendship he and Shaun share when things go horribly wrong is one of the highlights.

The Big Chase revolves around young Timmy going for a joyride on The Farmer’s expensive new quad bike and the panicked flock giving chase. It’s up to Shaun and Bitzer to rescue Timmy and get everyone back to the farm before they’re discovered, which they do by commandeering a pizza delivery driver’s scooter. So far, so utterly brilliant!

The episode also involves three joyriding pigs, whose car comes complete with an appropriate licence plate for this blog, and a little old lady who nearly gets knocked down several times before she has her wooly hat taken in the chaos. She joins the pigs to chase down Shaun and Bitzer while Timmy and the flock inadvertently run riot in a variety of farm equipment and shopping trolleys.

OiNK Blog: So Patrick, how did you become involved in the series for this episode?

Patrick Gallagher: “The offer of a commission came totally out of the blue, actually. Following the broadcast of the phenomenally successful debut series in 2007, and with the world clamouring for more farmyard frolics from Shaun and the flock, Aardman Animation approached my agent, Dominic Lord at JFL, and invited Craig and me to pitch ideas for the upcoming second series. It was a big surprise, a tremendous honour and an offer Craig and I couldn’t refuse. We had previously collaborated on several high-profile TV shows, including Spitting Image, The Russ Abbot Show and The Basil Brush Show.

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“The Naughty Pigs who antagonise the sheep at any given opportunity could inexplicably turn up on the own ‘chavmobile’.”

Patrick Gallagher

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“Furthermore, as a co-creator, I had Round the Bend under my belt and was also involved in co-developing Hangar 17. Therefore, writing for Shaun the Sheep would be a much-welcomed addition to our portfolios. The idea Aardman chose to commission out of the handful we submitted was The Big Chase, in which Timmy the baby sheep drives off on the Farmer’s brand new quad bike, sparking a whirlwind of uproarious chaos.

“However, there was a long wait before we got the green light. It was over a year before Aardman’s Development Executive, Dick Hansom (editor of blog comics Jurassic Park and the forthcoming Aliens! – Phil), wrote with the good news. He explained that the delay was due to the expense of making the quad bike, which they had to balance out with cheaper episodes, and eventually did.”

OB: The quad bike does look great but to have this little insight into the decision making because of it is interesting. They must’ve really liked your script. You co-wrote it with Craig, but given how central pigs are to the plot, would I be correct in assuming they were your idea?

PG: “Not entirely; it was a joint decision. We had free rein to use any of the Shaun the Sheep characters, and Craig and I agreed that The Naughty Pigs, who antagonise the sheep at any given opportunity and could inexplicably turn up in their own ‘chavmobile’, would be the perfect foils to instigate mayhem and hilarity in our vehicular-themed episode.”

OB: How appropriate! Can you give us a little insight into what it was like to work on the show for Aardman? And did you ever get to visit the studio and see it being animated? Did the finished product stray from your script or remain close to it?

PG: “It was an absolute dream to work on the show. I’d been a big fan of Aardman since 1977 when I first saw Morph, their claymation character which I loved, on CBBC‘s Take Hart. But Craig and I had to be on top form, as it would demand a lot of hard work and expectations were stratospheric. Shaun first appeared in Aardman’s Academy Award-winning film, A Close Shave. Therefore, the bar for the writing of the TV series had already been set high – literally – to Hollywood standards.

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“I found it quite refreshing to focus solely on the action and dismiss any dialogue, in the fashion of writing a silent movie.”

Patrick Gallagher

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“Not that we needed reminding, but as we presented our concept to the producer, Gareth Owen at Aardman’s Bristol studio, the gleaming golden Oscar statuette perched behind him caught my eye. And with its shimmer, I could have sworn it whispered, “Time to shine, boys!” But that meeting was the only time we visited the studio. The final produced show remained really close to our original script; however, we expected tweaks since we overwrote the episode by a couple of minutes. Moreover, we would naturally welcome any supplementary changes by Aardman, as they would only enhance the production further.

“On a more specific writing note, we adhered to the three-act structure for the seven-minute episode. The main plot centred on Shaun and the flock chasing after Timmy and their attempts to get him off the quad bike and back to the farm safely before the farmer found out. And the subplot revolved around the old lady’s efforts to retrieve her hat, which had bizarrely become caught up in the chase along with the naughty pigs as she tried to cross the road.”

OB: It all seems so chaotic when watching it, with more and more layers of comedic situations being added on top. It’s really quite a genius piece of writing, and the animation is just absolutely incredible. How difficult (or not) was it to write comedy for a show where there’s no speech whatsoever? Did your background in the visual comics medium help?

PG: “Personally, I found it quite refreshing to focus solely on the action and dismiss any dialogue, in the fashion of writing a silent movie. But overall, I’d say it was as equally challenging to write it without dialogue as it would have been with dialogue. Either way, we still had seven minutes to fill. And yes, I do think my background in comics helped, as I’ve always thought visually and storyboarded my comic scripts for Buster, Whizzer and Chips, OiNK and all the other Fleetway titles I cut my teeth on.”

OB: Should OiNK pig pals see this episode, at least parts of it and especially that licence plate, as a bit of a homage?

PG: “For my part, most definitely. Although the idea of the pigs’ ‘chavmobile’ licence plate reading ‘OI NK 5’ wasn’t scripted by Craig and me. It was the animators who came up with that notion, so it was just coincidental. Or perhaps, more probably, it was a case of serendipity at play, orchestrated psychically by Uncle Pigg from his tropical retirement island.”

OB: Thanks for your insights, Patrick. It’s a perfect seven minutes of unadulterated laughs. Is there anything else about it that you’d like to share with us?

PG: “Yes, just a couple of things. It was brilliant to be associated once again with the ridiculously talented Dave Alex Riddett, the lighting cameraman for The Big Chase. Dave was the genius animator who, 21 years earlier, had been responsible for producing Round the Bend’s iconic stop-motion serials The False Teeth from Beyond the Stars and Attack of the Atomic Banana, which I had written with my dearly departed co-writers Tony Husband and Mark Rodgers. On top of that, Dave was the cinematographer on the Oscar-winning A Close Shave, so we knew that our episode was in the safest of hands before it was broadcast globally.”

PG: “In terms of figures, the series is seen in 170 territories throughout the world but it’s difficult to estimate how many people have watched it. However, according to YouTube, Shaun has amassed 1.7 billion views on their platform alone. Also, in 2010 following its broadcast Shaun the Sheep Series 2, which included our episode, was honoured with three distinguished awards: The Writers’ Guild Award for Best Children’s Television Drama/Comedy, The BAFTA Children’s Award for Best Animation and The International Emmy Award for Best Children and Young People’s Programme.

“And finally, the crowning achievement for Craig and me came in 2011, when a compilation DVD was released, featuring eight standout episodes from the second series, including ours. The highlight? The DVD was titled The Big Chase, and our eponymous episode topped the bill as the lead show in the collection… from that very series that swept the board at the 2010 awards ceremonies.”

Blimey. My thanks to Patrick for chatting with me about this particular highlight of his illustrious career. As a viewer Shaun more than deserves all of the praise and the awards bestowed upon him. This episode in particular showcases the incredible comic timing of the animators, surely no easy task when animating modelling clay frame by frame. An amazing achievement and I for one am looking forward to the new series. In the meantime there are 159 episodes over six series to catch up on first!

There are also the specials of course, including The Flight Before Christmas which must be watched by everyone during the next festive season after you read this! I know I will be. Again.

Click here to watch The Big Chase on the BBC iPlayer

The Flight Before Christmas is on Netflix. Shown on the BBC every year, keep an eye on the blog’s socials for news of when it pops up on the iPlayer too.

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