Paddington

PADDINGTON
Made by: Filmfair
Shown on: BBC
Years Shown: mid 70s-early 90s

Adapted from the popular books by Michael Bond, Paddington utilised an animation technique never seen before or since; the main character, the bear himself, was a stop-motion model, while all of the other characters, as well as all the background scenery, were hand-drawn animation. Amazingly, it worked.

Paddington was a bear from Darkest Peru, who was named after the station on whose platform he was found by the Brown family. He was wearing his trademark blue duffel-coat and red hat, with a note attached to him that read, ‘Please look after this bear.’ Mr Henry Brown, his wife, and their children, Jonathan and Judy, took Paddington home and essentially adopted him. They were not in the least surprised to find a talking bear who wore human clothes. Anyway, Paddington’s Aunt Lucy was now in a home for retired bears back in Darkest Peru, and he needed somewhere to live (how he ended up thousands of miles away is never explained - was this a deliberate ploy by his aunt?)

The Browns lived at 32 Windsor Gardens, along with their housekeeper, Mrs Bird ; next door was their nasty neighbour, Mr Curry, who had no time for the Grizzly house-guest; and there was also Mr Gruber, the local antiques dealer, who was a little more tolerant, and would take Paddington and the Brown children on trips to the seaside etc.

Paddington was famous for a couple of things: his love of marmalade sandwiches, and his ability to give people hard stares. He was not, however, famed for his intellect - in fact, he wasn’t quite the full shilling much of the time (he kept his sarnies in his hat, for instance), which led to all kinds of mishaps and misunderstanding. But Paddington always meant well, and usually he got things right by happy accident. He was also lucky that the Browns didn’t find him at Wapping or Embankment.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 7/10