Filmmaker Terry Gilliam and actor Robert Lindsay have added unique new trophies to their collections, having received a hand-crafted personalised version of the Aardman character Morph during the final events of Bristol’s twentieth annual Slapstick festival of screen comedy. 

The presentations were made at Bristol Old Vic at the finale of separate clips-rich celebrations of their careers, hosted by Dr Matthew Sweet.

Gilliam was given the Aardman Slapstick Award for Visual Comedy in recognition of his animation, performance and scripting work with Monty Python and as the director of more than aa dozen feature films – among them Time Bandits, The Fisher King, Brazil and the one which inspired the design of his Morph, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

Lindsay received the Aardman Slapstick Comedy Legend Award for his roles in TV comedy series such as My Family, Citizen Smith and Alan Bleasdale’s G.B.H. and cameo appearances in a wide range of comedy shows, including Absolutely Fabulous, Extras, The Office and a Victoria Wood special.

The two award events were the last of the 31 staged as part of Slapstick 2024 at which other guests included Samira Ahmed, Hugh Bonneville, Marcus Brigstocke, Graeme Garden, Harry Hill, Adam Hills, Robin Ince, Sylvester McCoy, Lucy Porter and Tim Vine plus voice messages from John Cleese, Robert de Niro, Sir Michael Palin and Sting.  His bespoke Morph was modelled on his portrayal of Wolfie ‘Power to the People’ in the BBC sitcom Citizen Smith. 

For more information about the latest and previous editions of Slapstick, including past award winners, please visit www.slapstick.org.uk .  

Slapstick is a not-for-profit organisation. The festival’s principal funders are Aardman Animations (www.aardman.com) and BFI (www.bfi.org.uk) awarding funds from the National Lottery.