COMEDIAN Peter Kay baffled US Netflix bosses by exclaiming “Flippin’ Nora” in the festive Wallace and Gromit film.
They feared the star was being offensive as Chief Inspector Mackintosh — his first TV role in four years.
The character shouts the phrase as penguin villain Feathers McGraw escapes in Vengeance Most Fowl.
Nine million people watched on BBC1 on Christmas Day and the film will be streamed on Netflix internationally next week.
Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park, from animators Aardman, revealed: “Peter ad-libs quite a lot.
“At one point he’s astonished at something and shouts ‘Flippin Nora’.
“One day we did get a note back to ask ‘Who is Nora and why is she being flipped?’
Creative director Merlin Crossingham said the team had to explain to the Americans: “It’s not rude, it’s not an expletive, it’s an innocent turn of phrase’.”
It’s not the first time Bolton star Peter, 51, has perplexed US audiences.
He apologised for jokes about car-boot sales and British celebs at the end of a 2009 stand-up show in LA, telling the audience: “I’m sorry if you found that hard to understand but there was comedy in there somewhere.”
He axed his tour in 2017 to take a showbiz break and was last seen on TV in 2020’s Car Share.
