THEIR characters may be a couple of bats and a cluster of flies on the wall. But a group of ladies from the Bournemouth Society for the Visually Impaired are playing a top role in the latest Creature Comforts series now under way on ITV1.

All the new flying stars are in their 80s and 90s and keen members of the Moordown-based society.

But none had any idea which character they would be when the team behind cult animation stars Wallace and Gromit came to record their voices.

"I just laughed when I heard I was going to be a bat," said Catherine Sheridan, 81, from Queen's Park.

"I think it was because we can see in the dark."

Catherine, together with Muriel Durant, 91, from central Bournemouth, are the voices behind the two nocturnal creatures, Catherine and Muriel.

They are just some of the distinctive and "passionate" voices recorded around the country for characters in the new series created by animation giant Aardman.

All the things people say are unscripted and unrehearsed, and those being recorded don't know which animals they are going to be until the programme comes to be broadcast.

"We all just sat around a table when they came to do the recording. I can't remember what we talked about." said 90-year-old Iris Bright from Moordown, who is one of a quartet of flies on the wall.

But fellow fly Lillian Halliday, 88, from Cemetery Junction, was happy to be an insect in the series. "I enjoyed being involved very much. I think it's really lovely."

And fly three Edith Niblett, 96, from Castle Lane, was keen to see which species they were on the small screen.

"We don't know yet whether we're blow flies or perhaps just ordinary house flies. We might even be tsetse flies," she laughed.

The new Creature Comforts series is on at 7.20pm every Sunday on ITV1. There are 12 episodes in all, along with a Christmas special, and a DVD is set to be released later this month.

First published: November 5