While on a delivery for their bakery business, Wallace and Gromit save Piella Bakewell, a former pin-up model for the Bake-O-Lite bread company, and her nervous poodle, Fluffles, when the brakes on her bicycle fail.

Escaping in Piella's old Bake-O-Lite hot air balloon, Gromit and Fluffles arrive at Wallace's house as he lights the candle.

Wallace and Gromit are attacked by Piella, who reveals she detests bakers after her weight gain ended her career as the Bake-O-Lite Girl.

In the chaos, the bomb falls into Wallace's trousers; Gromit and Fluffles neutralise the explosion with dough while Piella leaps onto her balloon.

[6] Commenting on the fact that the short would be made directly for a British audience, Nick Park said: "I don't feel like I'm making a film for a kid in some suburb of America — and being told they're not going to understand a joke, or a northern saying.

[6] Park cast Sally Lindsay after hearing her on the Radcliffe and Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 whilst driving from Preston.

[8] Although unfamiliar with her role as Shelley Unwin in Coronation Street, Park said "Sally has a lot of fun in her voice, flamboyant almost, and I was also looking for someone who could be quite charming too, but with a slightly posh northern accent.

[1] In the UK, it debuted on Christmas Day at 20:30 on BBC One with over 14 million people watching, although it had been available on filesharing website the Pirate Bay since 3 December 2008.

In a similar style to A Close Shave, Wallace & Gromit became the theme for BBC One's Christmas idents for 2008, to promote the showing of A Matter of Loaf and Death.

[citation needed] The short was shown on British television for the third time on Good Friday 2009, pulling in 3.4 million viewers.