Paddington

The BBC television series, Paddington, produced by Michael Bond and animation company FilmFair, was first broadcast in 1975 - after the Paddington books began and the Paddington Bear toy created. Paddington, in case you don't know him, was found by a London family on the station platform at Paddington Station. He originated from Peru and they decided to adopt him. Luckily, he's well prepared for British weather and sports a blue duffle coat, a hat, wellington boots and carries all his possessions in a brown suitcase. He has a penchant for marmalade sandwiches and cups of cocoa, and his always exceptionally polite - apart from when executing a death stare at anyone who's rude to him. Go Paddington!

The TV version of Paddington was a stop-motion puppet moving in a three dimensional space in front of two-dimensional backgrounds (which were frequently sparse black-and-white line drawings), while all other characters were 2D drawings. Animator Ivor Wood also worked on The Magic Roundabout and Postman Pat, and you can definiteley spot similarities between the three. The Paddington series was narrated by Michael Hordern.

Despite being quintessentially British - or perhaps because of this - Paddington was a huge hit in America as well as the UK. It was regularly aired in between other children's cartoons, and went on to scoop a silver medal at the New York Film and Television Festival in 1979 - the first-ever British animated series to do so!

A second television series, produced by Hanna-Barbera, debuted in 1989 as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera. This series was traditional two-dimensional animation and featured Charles Adler as Paddington and Tim Curry as Mr. Curry. The character of an American boy named David, Jonathan and Judy Brown's cousin who arrived in London on the same day as Paddington, was added to the stories in the 1989 cartoon.

The most recent series, produced by Cinar Films, was first broadcast in 1997 and consisted of traditional two-dimensional colour animation. The show was called The Adventures of Paddington Bear.

The show has proven such as success still, despite its simple approach to animation, that Paddington was worked into a feature film in the Noughties as well as an advert for Marmite. Unlike Marmite, though, everyone loves Paddington!