Stamford Oscar-winner Peter Baynton directs Universal Pictures’ feature film The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland

An Oscar-winning animator has helped create another Christmas television hit after directing his first Hollywood feature film.

Peter Baynton worked with Hollywood star Gerard Butler and Game of Thrones’ actor Emilia Clarke, to create Universal Pictures’ The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland.

The animated film musical, based on Carys Bexington’s picture book, sees the worlds of Father Christmas and Alice in Wonderland collide.

Following its release in the United States last month, the film premiered to British audiences on Sky Cinema last Friday.

“It couldn’t have been a more fun and rewarding production,” said Peter, who grew up in Stamford and Uffington.

“It was a combination of the fun of the script and the story, with a really special team of people.”

At the height of the two-year production, completed in September, Peter oversaw a team which peaked at just shy of 140 people, including fellow Stamford animator, Nick Gibson.

A huge plate-spinning operation of meetings, storyboards, scrutiny and decision-making, ending with 80 minutes of animation.

“There are all these different departments, so you end up bouncing around every day, reviewing work and trying to get everyone rowing in the same direction,” he explained.

“Animation is a very laborious and demanding process.

“You start with nothing and make everything, but I think it’s the most fun thing you could possibly do. I feel very lucky.”

Peter’s passion for art was kindled at Stamford School.

Yet, remarkably, he fell into animation by accident rather than design after a brief and unfulfilling foray into architecture.

“There was such an inspirational art department at school, and I remember seeing a Wallace and Gromit short at this time and was amazed by it.

“But it never really occurred to me that you could do it as a profession.”

A debut short animation, Over the Hill, released in 2007, won accolades and awards, and ultimately led to big-screen credits on Paddington 2 and The Tiger Who Came To Tea, and a string of TV series.

But his CV was propelled into a different stratosphere after co-directing The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse.

Aired by the BBC on Christmas Day 2022, it earned a BAFTA two months later February for Best British Short Animation.

Weeks later an Oscar followed at the 2023 Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film.

“It almost feels like a strange memory now where I pinch myself and think ‘did that really happen?’,” Peter said.

“I stopped working on The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse one Wednesday in October 2022, and the very following day I started working on The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland, so I didn’t have a moment to pause and take stock.

“I was working on that and making trips over to LA for the awards season, and here in London at the BAFTAs. It was a really crazy few months - it was wild.”

Becoming a BAFTA and Academy Award winner can add kudos to reputation and open doors.

For Peter, however, the most beneficial change was in self-esteem.

“It’s not like the Oscars happen and the next day I get a load of calls with offers to work, it’s more of a softer thing,” he said.

“What it does is give you a little lift and a bit more confidence in your decision-making.

“Everyone feels that syndrome the whole time, and I’ve felt that a lot as well, but slowly by degree you think ‘actually I’m not bad at this, maybe I should carry on’.”

Perhaps the red carpet treatment also helped prepare Peter for life with Hollywood names.

“Gerard Butler was a real pleasure to work with,” he said.

“Even though he’s a megastar, he’s so down-to-earth and so warm, funny and generous with his time.

“You quite quickly get beyond the fact they’re a superstar and then you’re just dealing with a normal person.

“The same was true with Emilia Clarke, who played the Queen of Hearts - she was brilliant.”

Peter’s hectic couple of years in the movie business also ran spookily in parallel with his twin brother.

Robin Baynton, who works in film music, recently finished a two-year stint as supervising vocal editor and mixer on another big Universal production, Wicked, a film adaptation of the hit stage musical.

“I was in the Universal offices here in London a couple of weeks ago and they had these two huge wall posters,” Peter recalled.

“One was Wicked and the other next to it was my film. It was a real thrill to see those together.”

Peter is set to return to his roots from his London home, for Christmas at his parents’ home in Wothorpe.

The stay will include an annual festive custom - a curry at Bombay Cottage, in Stamford.

Most importantly, it will provide a pause from the hectic pace of working life.

Only not too long a pause. The heavy demands, but fun of his feature film debut have lit a fire.

“The film’s gone down pretty well so far and they’re such fun characters, so I’m hoping we can get a sequel going,” he said.

“The process of making a feature film, and the challenges involved, are different and bigger than anything I’ve done before and I’d really love to make more.

“Go bigger and better each time, that’s the ambition.”