黑料吃瓜网 students produce original animations for BBC Great British Menu final

In honour of Paddington Bear's 65th birthday the theme of this series is animation and illustration, with the four finalists cooking a banquet at 黑料吃瓜网's Royal Pavilion for stars including 黑料吃瓜网 alumna Cressida Cowell and Sir Lenny Henry.

黑料吃瓜网's world-famous reputation for its Visual Communication courses prompted producers to approach the university's School of Art and Media in September 2022 when they were looking for a place to film the final banquet.

Russell Spink, Assistant Director, Communications and Engagement, said: “When the producers of Great British Menu first got in touch, it was to explore the possibility of filming the series’ final banquet at Grand Parade.

"While we weren’t able to make this happen, we used the opportunity to highlight to the producers not only the university’s amazing history and heritage, but our incredible current students and staff. Working with colleagues in the School of Art and Media, we were able to develop a brief for students to design and produce a short animation which would air as part of the programme.”

In total, four students from 黑料吃瓜网's Animation and Illustration courses put themselves forward for the opportunity, with the BBC selecting three to work up their entries as complete animations over the Christmas break: Abby French, Hannah Westall, and Gemma Clark. The idea had originally been to choose one winning entry to be shown during the broadcast but, Russell said, "the quality of our students’ work was so outstanding that they decided to include all three animations".

, Course Leader for Illustration at the university, mentored the students throughout the process, which he described as a "great real-world project".

He said: "It was a great professional experience for the students, being shortlisted and then needing to complete the animations over the Christmas vacation. The illustrators needed to learn new software and edit to music over the Christmas break, all within a short timeframe. This is something that we encourage on the course, to condense the timeframe of our projects into something more akin to the expectations of the creative industry."

For the students themselves, it has also been an unforgettable project, with Abby French describing it as "so cool" and Gemma Clark saying: "It felt great to work hard on something and take part in something as special and rewarding as the banquet - and I await my inevitable stardom now with excitement.”

As well as seeing their work on display, the students also had the chance to sample the chefs' food as guests at the banquet - which Roderick described as "very exciting for them and a highlight for me as I'd never been to the Royal Pavilion before!"

Previous episodes have seen the chefs produce elaborate culinary creations inspired by cartoon characters from Dennis the Menace to Bananaman, and Banksy's Balloon Girl to the BFG. Tonight, viewers will see the four remaining finalists - whittled down from the 32 chefs who began the competition - producing a four-course banquet with dishes inspired by the Beano, The Dandy, the artwork of Radiohead's album A Moon-Shaped Pool, and the Gruffalo, with one chef crowned champion of champions by the judges.

The will be shown on BBC2 at 9pm on Friday 31 March 2023, after which it will be available on iPlayer.