(Credit: Netflix)

On Christmas Day, Wallace and Gromit returned to the screen for their second feature-length outing, Vengeance Most Fowl, and it was a triumphant return. However, prior to the movie’s release, bosses at Netflix had an issue with one very British aspect concerning Peter Kay, who lent his voice to the film.

The latest adventure of the eponymous inventor and his quick-witted beagle sees the return of an iconic character from their past, the evil penguin Feathers McGraw, who hatches another dastardly scheme to steal the Blue Diamond.

Featuring the voice of Ben Whitehead as Wallace after the death of the character’s famous actor Peter Sallis in 2017, as well as Lauren Patel, Reece Shearsmith, Diane Morgan, Peter Kay and Lenny Henry, it was a welcome instalment into the series. It showed that despite their last outing arriving in the form of 2008’s A Matter of Loaf and Death, the franchise is still relevant.

Despite its success, before the film’s release, the American bosses at Netflix, who will distribute worldwide on January 3rd, had a misgiving about a quintessentially British line exclaimed by comedian Peter Kay’s character, the dim-witted Chief Inspector Albert Mackintosh.

The issue arose due to Kay’s famous technique of improvising while in the recording booth, and saw directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham temporarily land in hot water as they had to explain this particularly British line to their American producers, who got the wrong end of the stick.

At one point in the new flick, Chief Inspector Mackintosh exclaims, “Flippin’ Nora!” an innocuous phrase of surprise often used in the north of England that was unknown to Netflix executives across the pond.

Park explained to The Sun: “Peter ad-libs quite a lot. At one point, he’s astonished at something and shouts: ‘Flippin’ Nora.’ One day we did get a note back to ask: ‘Who is Nora and why is she being flipped?”’

Crossingham then recalled that they convinced the execs that Kay’s comment was “not rude, not an expletive” but just “an innocent turn of phrase”. This was not the first time Kay had confused Americans with his very British style, and he famously apologised after a 2009 show in Los Angeles due to content about car-boot sales and obscure British celebrities.

Elsewhere, Park revealed to the BBC that he found making the new film “quite emotional” without the late Peter Sallis, calling him “such an original, unique voice”. Discussing his replacement, Whitehead, he continued: “So it’s very hard for anyone to step into his shoes. But we have been blessed with a youngish actor whom we’ve known for many years who can do a fantastic Wallace impersonation.”