The bear who won over the world

Paddington Bear's manners and marmalade continue to charm, Julian Shea reports in London.

In October 1958, when his first book about a polite but accident-prone stowaway bear from Peru with a taste for marmalade sandwiches was published, British author Michael Bond could have had no idea what he was giving the world.

Over the subsequent decades, the adventures of Bond's creation, Paddington Bear, who was found by the Brown family at London's Paddington Station wearing a luggage tag saying "Please look after this bear", have enchanted readers and, more recently, viewers of all ages around the world.

The books are estimated to have sold around 35 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages, including Chinese.

The intellectual property value of the Paddington brand is valued alongside Harry Potter and James Bond, and a succession of animated television series and three hit movies have taken the story of Paddington to a global audience.

The tidy, music-filled London that Paddington lives in, which is fueled by goodwill and the kindness of strangers, may clearly be grounded more in escapist fantasy than in reality, but the lovable character has become a mainstay of the British tourist and souvenir industry, and, since May last year, fans have had a chance to step into his world at the Paddington Bear Experience on London's South Bank, close to the London Eye.

Nathan Brine is the director of the immersive experience and came to it from a background in live theater entertainment production, including taking an adaptation of the animated film Madagascar on an extensive tour of China.

Like many Britons, his relationship with Paddington goes back to childhood.

"Paddington as a brand has touched me at various points in my life," he said. "I'm old enough to remember the stop (motion) animation cartoon that I watched on the television, and my parents read me the original books.

"Then I had a period of probably 10 to 15 years of not really thinking about Paddington, but then there were key moments, like his wonderful interaction with the late Queen Elizabeth during her Diamond Jubilee in 2022, which suddenly put him front and center of everybody, and also the marvelous movies made by StudioCanal. Now, as the father of a 2-year-old, it's wonderful to begin that journey of sharing Paddington with him."

Three hit movies have made a whole new global audience fall under the spell of the impeccably well-mannered Peruvian adopted Londoner.

When the first movie was released in 2014, its global takings were $268 million.

When that film had its Chinese premiere in Shanghai in March 2015, Prince William attended. Actor Du Jiang has voiced the title character for Chinese audiences in all three films, with the first installment grossing nearly 100 million yuan ($13.9 million) in China, and the second earning 206 million yuan and scoring 8.4 of 10 on film review website Douban.

At the Beijing premiere of the third film, Paddington in Peru, at the start of this year, Geraldine McCafferty, deputy head of mission at the United Kingdom's embassy in Beijing, granted Paddington the title of Honorary Marmalade Ambassador for his contributions to foreign exchanges and helping families, and for promoting marmalade.

In 2021, the films' success in China prompted film rights' holder StudioCanal to sign a deal with Shanghai Senyu Media to bring the animation series The Adventures of Paddington, which are based on Bond's original stories and characters, to small screens in China.

"Our much-loved bear is adored by millions in China already, so we're sure that both adults and children alike will enjoy these new light-hearted stories that embrace and encourage kindness and thoughtfulness, as well as a great deal of fun," StudioCanal's Sarah Mottershead told the Hollywood Reporter.

Now, in his adopted hometown of London, fans have a chance to enter Paddington's world in an immersive and interactive experience that takes them from Paddington Station to the Brown family's house, and then on to the Peruvian jungle in search of the all-important oranges to make marmalade.

Detailed sets and enthusiastic cast members help visitors get a taste of what life is like around the accident-prone bear.

"The fundamental difference between traditional live stage work and an immersive experience like this is that (on stage) even if you break the fourth wall, there will be a disconnect, because you are in control of keeping (the theater audience) in one place. What we've created here is the opposite end of the spectrum," said Brine. "From the minute that you enter Mr Gruber's antique shop and then come into Paddington Station, you are a part of this world. You are another character in the story, so you are not sitting back and watching and appreciating the work that's happening in front of you. You are a part of it."

Brine said that at least once a week, he makes a point of walking around the experience, among the visitors, for the sheer feel-good factor.

"It's such a dopamine hit," he explained. "The energy that you experience from guests who are coming through the attraction is incredible. I've stood here and spoken to a four-generation family who have been here together, and I've spoken to young adults who have come here without children, slightly nervous before they bought their tickets, thinking 'is this going to be for us?' But everyone is welcome."

As the 70th anniversary of the world being introduced to Paddington draws closer, there is no sign of the public's ongoing love affair with the impeccably-mannered bear showing any signs of wearing of — quite the opposite.

In an interview earlier this year, StudioCanal CEO Anna Marsh said: "There will be a fourth film, we're thinking about the next movies", and in November, a Paddington stage musical opens in London.

As the Paddington Bear Experience celebrates its first birthday, Brine hinted that, in the future, Paddington fans around the world may not necessarily have to follow in his "pawsteps" by traveling to London because the world of Mr Gruber's shop, Paddington Station, and Windsor Gardens may go on travels of its own.

"We are in active conversations with many different regions because not everyone should have to come to London to experience the beauty and the delight that is the Paddington Bear Experience," he said. "Doing big replicas of sites like this is no easy task. However, watch this space, because certainly we feel like Windsor Gardens may be popping up internationally in the not-too-distant future."

Michael Bond died in 2017, living long enough to play a cameo role in the first movie, and see its overwhelming success, and his family retain control of the rights to the Paddington character and how it is used.

Bond said the inspiration for Paddington, found at a railway station wearing a name tag, was seeing child evacuees during wartime, which explains why acts of kindness and good nature are so deeply rooted in the stories, and why audiences globally find it so easy to connect with the world of Paddington and the atmosphere it creates.

Paddington's best friend, antiques dealer Mr Gruber, through whose shop visitors enter the Paddington Bear Experience, is also a refugee, and since 2017, Paddington has been a partner of the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, "to ensure every child grows up healthy, happy, and safe".

"I do think that there's no sadder sight than refugees," Bond told The Guardian newspaper in 2014, and this sympathy and empathy is borne out in Paddington's approach to life, and the message of the stories.

"Paddington's character is, of course, a refugee, and there is a message about being an outsider but being taken in and given courtesy and love and feeling part of something," said Brine. "And I think this is exactly why Paddington will continue to survive.

"As humans, we desire what it is that Paddington represents, and I think in an ever-changing and sometimes quite scary world, the fact that there is this bear who arrived on a boat from Peru and was accepted into a family and is only there to offer kindness and sincerity and a genuine openness to the world and acceptance of everybody — that's something I think that, deep down, we all yearn for, and we don't see in our day-to-day lives."

Contact the writer at julian@mail.chinadailyuk.com.