Could an animated film based on a popular chat show format and featuring a pig as the host, convey the complex subject of xenotransplantation to a group of secondary school students? The Perry Pigger show manages to do exactly that, and the film is even more remarkable when you discover that it was developed and made by ten Year 9 girls from Manchester's Abraham Moss School, with the help of a professional animator and a scientist. The girls were one of six groups of students around the UK who won the opportunity to turn their idea into reality when they entered and won the North West round of the Big Screen Science competition run by the young people's filmmaking initiative, First Light, and supported by the Wellcome Trust. The resulting film proves just how successful the collaboration between science and filmmaking can be.

Video Series: KS3/4 Science
Release Date 2005