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[title]If somebody had opened a lavish Paddington Bear experience in the centre of London 10 years ago, you’d have assumed they were several marmalade sandwiches short of a picnic.
Making his debut in 1958 via Bond’s ‘A Bear Called Paddington’, the scruffy, naive, intensely well-meaning bear from Peru had enjoyed TV success with a stop-motion ’70s cartoon that was repeated throughout the ’80s. But, while Michael Bond’s books about the innocent young bear’s adventures in London remained childhood classics, subsequent screen adventures for the dufflecoat-clad marmalade fan fizzled out without much notice.
What a difference a couple of films make. Paddington and Paddington 2 were, first and foremost, exceptionally good movies. ‘People in Hollywood love to talk about a “four-quadrant” movie: something that appeals to men and women, young and old,’ says Time Out film editor Phil de Semelyn, who reckons Paddington 2 is the best film sequel since The Godfather Part II.
There was something reassuringly British about them because they both seemed to represent a past age
‘It’s the holy grail for all cigar-chewing super-producers. Paddington, without even really trying to be, is the ultimate four-quadrant film. It’s a picture-book realisation of an actual picture book that captures all the magic of its beloved character, and runs on old-fashioned qualities like gentleness, empathy, wit and almost boundless imagination. How could you not love that?’
But they went beyond being good movies. They were films that seemed to spark a sort of national awakening in the British, taking a well liked children’s character and embodying him so perfectly – via great CGI, Ben Whishaw’s deft voice acting and Paul King’s superb scripts and direction – that our passion for him was not only stoked up but taken to wild new heights.
Just look at his extraordinary latterday association with the late Queen. In a memorable Platinum Jubilee skit spun off from the films, Elizabeth II had Whishaw’s Paddington over for tea, with drolly amusing results. ‘A lot was riding on the Paddington sketch in part because the Queen was by that stage too frail to attend the concert,’ says Kate Mansey, Royal Editor at The Times. It made a huge splash, boasting more than 20 million views on the Royal Family’s YouTube account alone.
Upon the Queen’s death, almost industrial quantities of Paddington merch and toys were left in tribute to her (that were later gathered up, cleaned and distributed to children’s charities), even though technically the two hadn’t even met until a couple of months before her death and had no historical association. And yet it felt like a good pairing. ‘There was something reassuringly British about both of them because they both seemed to represent a past age,’ rationalises Mansey. ‘While Paddington was lovable because he was so hapless, it always felt like there was something “proper” about the resilient little bear with the duffel coat who had a deep reverence for upholding Great British traditions like afternoon tea.’
But we don’t need to bring a head of state into this: lots of normal people love Paddington, for all sorts of reasons. ‘Paddington is an immigrant,’ says 24-year-old theatre producer Ameena Hamid. ‘Michael Bond saw him as a way to help everyone remember that when people are displaced we should help them (the tag is a reference to the evacuees from the war). I really love that message, and I think it is so important that through this wonderful little bear, young people and maybe all of us could learn more about acceptance.’
Rosie Holmes, a 29-year-old who has a collection of Paddington paraphernalia – everything from stationary to pyjamas – says he’s gotten her through some tough times. ‘I’d always been aware of him but definitely became a “fan” after the film,’ she says. ‘I just loved the wholesomeness and the fact that everyone in my family enjoyed it. I was going through some poor mental health at the time the first film came out and I just found Paddington to be a real comfort.’
How long can the current bout of Paddington mania last? Clearly quite a while. The trailer has just dropped for Paddington in Peru, the third film in the franchise, which is out in UK cinemas on November 8. If it can live up to the first two (a big ask for a film trilogy) then the bear is not letting go of our heartstrings any time soon.
There’s a bit more to it than that, though. In 2016, French film studio StudioCanal – which had at this point already made the film ‘Paddington’ – purchased the complete rights to the Paddington brand for an undisclosed sum. It already owned the film rights. Now it owns the rights to Paddington, full-stop.
Holding the somewhat unwieldy title of CEO Copyrights Group and EVP Kids’ Brands, Françoise Guyonnet from StudioCanal is literally the woman charged with keeping Paddington popular. ‘I’m here to take care of the bear,’ she tells me over a Zoom chat.
He seems old fashioned, but he makes people want to be a better person
Initially he was viewed as a somewhat unknown quantity by the French company: ‘He was very well, very well known in the UK,’ she says. ‘The challenge was to make him known to the rest of the world.’ That happened: as Guyonnet quickly points out, the Paddington franchise are the most successful family films ever made by a non-US film studio. She thinks that, ultimately, Paddington’s values are universal. ‘If you’re kind and polite, the world will be right,’ she says. ‘I think it’s so powerful in the world we are living in, and it’s really appealing to a lot of people, it’s very global. Yes, he seems old fashioned, but he makes people want to be a better person.’
Is it all a bit corporate having a French film studio owning the 360 rights to sweet little Paddington – and having a person whose job is literally to think up ways to bolster his personal brand? Absolutely. But clearly it’s working. And having one company in charge of all aspects of Paddington means synergy, baby. We’ve already seen it in the four seasons of the pre-school animated TV series The Adventures of Paddington. Set in the same world as the films, with Ben Whishaw voicing Paddington, it’s ensured that a new generation of youngsters have fallen for him – and the StudioCanal version of him – during the seven years since the last film.
Guyonnet tells me there absolutely is a ten-year-plan and promises ‘more films, more TV programmes, more international events’; a Paddington musical has been announced for the West End next year, though she remains tight-lipped about it.
That’s not all. Now, Paddington fans hungry for more can step into what absolutely nobody is calling the Paddington Cinematic Universe with London’s brand new, all-aged ‘Paddington Bear Experience’.
Located in the old County Hall building (near the London Aquarium and Shrek’s Adventure), featuring a cast of actors, it is very much an immersive theatre show. Pitched at all ages – and with varying tiers of difficulty for the gentle tasks you’re asked to accomplished within it – it begins with you boarding a ‘train’ and journeying from Paddington station to Primrose Hill (as you do) where we arrive at a replica of the home of Paddington’s adopted family, the Browns. That is to say, designer Rebecca Brower has recreated the bottom half of the £7.5m house from the film, where you must assist the family in tracking down some appropriate marmalade oranges for their lodger. Paddington is a character in it – I won’t say exactly how – and while no official confirmation was forthcoming, his voice sounded suspiciously like Whishaw’s.
It is a lot of gently witty fun, and while the prices are par for the course for a central London attraction (£34 adults, £24 kids), it has a lot more charm than some of its neighbours – and it’s not a bad rate for an immersive theatre show, which is effectively what it is. It’s a classy show at that: much of the appeal stems from the fact that it feels like you’re specifically stepping into the films, not the original ’50s London of the books or other less familiar take.
The marmalade is closer to orange jam – the bitterness isn’t something children enjoy these days
People love Paddington because he’s an absolute stand-up chap. He’s been loved for almost 70 years. But the films and Ben Whishaw’s voice performance have really embodied him as a figure of the twenty-first century, a bear possessed of kindness and decency who counteracts the cynicism of our age in a way that’s often extremely funny, who lives in a recognisable but idealised London that we’d probably all rather live in that the actual one (especially if it included a £7.5m house).
On my tour of the experience, the show’s creative director Tom Maller tells me that the marmalade you can buy and consume here is a sweeter recipe than ‘classic’ marmalade. It’ll be closer to orange jam – the bitterness of ’50s-style marmalade isn’t really something children enjoy these days. Tastes change. Paddington has changed with them. Maybe in the future he’ll need reinventing again. But it is this version of Paddington we’re in love with right now, and finally he’s come home to lighten up our drab version of London.