Merlin Crossingham MerlinCrossingham

BAFTA® award-winning director, Merlin Crossingham joined Aardman as an Animator in 1996 having completed a degree in Film and Photography at the Newport Film School.

Initially Merlin began his animation career working on Aardman commercials before taking the roles of Key Animator on the feature film Chicken Run, and Second Unit Director on Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Merlin then went on to direct the Creature Comforts USA series for CBS, for which he gained a Primetime Emmy nomination.

He has since specialised in directing Wallace & Gromit at Aardman and in 2009 took on the role of Creative Director for Wallace & Gromit where Merlin directs all aspects of the brand from merchandise and live shows to commercials, short films and interactive experiences. In 2011 Merlin won a BAFTA® New Media award for Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention. Alongside his work on the Wallace & Gromit, Merlin has directed dozens of commercials for established brands such as BBC, Royal Mail, DFS, NPower, Joules, Serta and Chevron.

Merlin also directed and voiced the re-launch series of Aardman’s oldest stop motion character, Morph in 2014, the second series in October 2016 and was Series Director on a new longer format series, The Epic Adventures of Morph which launched on Sky Kids in November 2020. 

Other recent credits are Animation Director on Nick Park’s 2018 feature film Early Man, Creative Director on Wallace & Gromit’s first Augmented Reality story, The Big Fix Up in 2021 and Emmy nominated XR experience The Grand Getaway in 2023. Merlin is currently directing Aardman’s latest film for winter 2024 Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl alongside Nick Park, which will be released by Netflix globally, and premiere on the BBC in the UK.

Merlin is a member of BAFTA and has spoken at numerous animation and film festivals around the world.