Feathers McGraw in hot demand at tattoo parlours

His silent menace may well be enough to send shivers down your spine but there seems to be a lot of love for Wallace and Gromit's arch-nemesis Feathers McGraw at tattoo parlours around the country.

More than 21 million people have now watched the villainous penguin's return in Aardman's Vengeance Most Fowl, which delighted audiences young and old when the animated film premiered on BBC One on Christmas Day.

Ever since, fans have been sharing images of their tattoos of Feathers McGraw, who first sparked mischief in the 1993 Oscar-winning hit The Wrong Trousers.

Faith Garvie, an artist at Black Moon Tattoo Studio in Liverpool, said she had done "six Feathers" in the past week alone.

"I guess it's just the magic of claymation, as he's so emotive but he doesn't speak at all," she said.

Faith said most of her clients wanted the designs "because they grew up with the characters or their family grew up with them".

"One guy came in and got his first tattoo - it was of the 'Feathers Wanted' poster.

"He was the dad of two teenagers and said he had really wanted the tattoo since lockdown, so that was really lovely."

Politics student Gia O'Donohoe, 20, got her tattoo from another Liverpool parlour after finding the film, recently nominated for an Oscar, funny.

"When I saw the scene with him and the seal, it was a lightbulb moment and I knew it was going to be that one," she said.

Her tattoo of Feathers holding a seal on his lap was one of many tongue-in-cheek references to James Bond, alongside the usual running jokes about the Lancashire-Yorkshire rivalry.

Her X post showing the image was widely viewed and even reposted by Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman.

"It was kind of crazy, I just decided to tag them and they were one of the first people who liked it, and then they reposted it and then it got 3,000 likes overnight," she said.

Gia also has a tattoo of Wallace's reliable underdog Gromit on her left leg.

"He's a really cool character and even though he's docile, sometimes he can flick a switch and become the hero of the day," she said.

Faith said there were two particular images of McGraw which her customers loved.

"One of them is from Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers - it's where Feathers gets stuck in a glass bottle.

"Everyone seems to adore that and some people get it with the glove on his head and others without.

"There's also a scene - again, where he's in The Wrong Trousers, where he's standing at the bottom of the stairs in Wallace and Gromit's house and he looks over at them, and people get that scene a lot as well."

The tattoo artist said she planned to get a tattoo of her own whenever business calms down, adding: "It's mainly just finding the time to be honest."

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