A COUPLE from Penwortham are set to be catapulted to fame as Preston animator Nick Park launches the next instalment of his Oscar winning classic Creature Comforts.

Richard and Pamela Wareing are the voices behind two of the film's lead characters -- Captain Cuddlepuss and Trixie the dog, respectively -- which comes to the small screen next week.

It is a continuation of series that won the animator his first Oscar in 1989 and features loveable Plasticine models, such as Frank the Tortoise, which are lip-synched to 'real' people's voices.

The dulcet tones of motor trade worker Richard and his wife Pamela, a local government worker, hit our TV screens for a 13-week series starting next Wednesday, at 8pm.

It is the first time the couple have featured on television in any shape or form although they admit their new-found fame will probably raise a few eyebrows.

"We are both very excited but a little apprehensive," said Richard. "We aren't sure how people will react to us in the future when we speak."

Creature Comforts was the film that inspired Heat Electric's television advertising campaign and became hugely popular helping to launch the famous duo Wallace and Gromit.

But it was the animator's Lancashire roots that spurred him to call his former student friend Richard, who first met the then unknown animator on a foundation art college course more than 20 years ago.

After an initial recording session at their South Ribble home, the couple, who have been married for two years, were later short-listed and interviewed for their roles in the film at Aardman Studios, Bristol.

Richard, who is in his forties, said: "It's really quite odd. They ask you very ordinary questions like 'what do you think about slugs in the garden?'.

"You answer in a very ordinary way but when you see it coming out of a cat's mouth it's really unusual."

"I am quite a portly cat. I guess it's better than being a Dung Beetle. I do like animals but funnily enough we don't have any.

"The studios are amazing. It's where they filmed Chicken Run and they are working on the next Wallace and Gromit."

Mr Park said: "Creature Comforts was one of the first films I made and I feel that it was never fully explored.

"The technique of putting real life interviews into the mouths of Plasticine characters will remain entertaining as long as there are interesting people to interview, and there are."