Chick flick that should get all poultry fans flocking to their local cinema
The chooks and I got ourselves into a bit of a flap when they announced that there was going to be a new Aardman film called Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.
After a spot of investigation my eagle eyes spied that Aardman co-founder Peter Lord had posted a photograph of Morph with a gorgeous bluebell chicken on social media. I therefore deduce that he might be a fellow poultry keeper, or at least a chicken fan.
It has been reported that the chick flick will feature stars such as; Thandiwe Newton (Ginger), Zachary Levi (Rocky), Jane Horrocks (Babs), Imelda Staunton (Bunty) and Lynn Ferguson (Mac) joined by Josie Sedgwick-davies (Frizzle), David Bradley (Fowler) and Romesh Ranganathan (Nick). The synopsis this time sees the plucky heroine
Ginger living on an island sanctuary with all her poultry pals. However when the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat, Ginger and her gang head back to the mainland, presumably also interrupting chicken nugget consumption.
I think it would be a cracking idea for the next episode, to take inspiration from the current UK avian flu regulations: to create a real life disaster movie where all our feathered charges are incarcerated against their will undercover or inside to prevent outbreaks of a fatal virus. Or perhaps they could remake Jurassic Park with giant chickens instead of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptors, as modern fowl are relatives of dinosaurs.
You could not fail to be inspired by chickens, with all their quirky characteristics and movie star good looks. Who needs Hollywood A-listers when you can have chooks named Meryl Cheep, Oprah Henfrey, Hennifer Lopez or Henneth Paltrow? Birds that can really strut their stuff down the red carpets.
When we got our newest band of four rescue hens in July 2021 each family member had the honour of naming one. My younger daughter fell in love at first sight with one and named her Aphrodite. Now that is quite a name to live up to for any chicken: the original was a goddess of love and beauty, seafaring and war. Sadly after a short illness our goddess has fallen off her perch. As tragic as it is to lose one of my precious flock, this particular hen was more of a fighter than a lover. And although a beautifully feathered bird, she was a bully with a nasty habit of pulling out others’ feathers, particularly of those beneath her in the pecking order. Nancy is the last one standing of the fabulous four. I’m hoping she sticks around long enough to grow back her plumage.