BBC catches Shaun the Sheep special

BBC1 in the UK will premiere a new half-hour episode of Shaun the Sheep this Christmas ahead of the popular Aardman character’s debut on the big screen in 2015.

Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas (1×30′) will go into production following the completion of the previously announced feature film, which is set for release in early 2015.

The animated character first appeared in Aardman’s 1995 Wallace & Gromit animated short A Close Shave and went on to star in his own CBBC toon, which has been sold into more than 170 countries.

Shaun was recently voted the UK’s favourite BBC children’s TV character of the past seven decades in a poll conducted by the UK magazine the Radio Times.

Broadcasters including Kika in Germany, ClanTV in Spain, France 3, Rai TV in Italy, NHK in Japan, CCTV in China and ABC in Australia air the series.