Paddington (TV series)



Paddington is an animated television programme based on the Paddington Bear books by Michael Bond. The series was scripted by Bond himself, and produced by FilmFair London; it was narrated by actor Michael Hordern, who also voices all characters.

Paddington is animated in stop motion. Paddington himself is a puppet in a three-dimensional environment, whilst other characters are paper cut-outs.

BBC1 premiered Paddington in January 1976; the series concluded in May, but was appended by two Christmas specials in December. A second series—retitled The Adventures of Paddington—followed in October 1979, and ran until April 1980. In all, 56 episodes were broadcast, followed by three television specials: Paddington Goes to the Movies (1983), Paddington Goes to School (1984), and Paddington’s Birthday Bonanza (1987).

Paddington was the first television programme adapted from Michael Bond's Paddington Bear stories. Paddington Bear (1989) was produced by Hanna–Barbera for broadcast syndication. The Adventures of Paddington Bear (1997) was produced by Protécréa.

Source material
Episodes of Paddington are based on stories published in the following books by Michael Bond:

• A Bear Called Paddington (1958)

• More About Paddington (1959)

• Paddington Helps Out (1960)

• Paddington Abroad (1961)

• Paddington at Large (1962)

• Paddington Marches On (1964)

• Paddington at Work (1966)

• Paddington Goes to Town (1968)

• Paddington Takes the Air (1970)

• Paddington's Blue Peter Story Book (1973)

• Paddington at the Tower (1973)

• Paddington on Top (1974)

• Paddington Takes the Test (1979)

Broadcast


In 1975, FilmFair completed production of the first series, which comprised 30 episodes. The first series aired on BBC1 in 1976. The second series, which comprised 26 episodes, was titled The Adventures of Paddington. These aired in 1978 and 1979, followed by specials in 1980, 1984, and 1986. It later aired on Channel 4 with the series being shown on a wrapper programme called Take 5 which airs several other children's programmes that been previously shown on other television stations and then on ITV in 1997 as part of their children's block CITV and aired until 2000.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast the programme in the early 1980s.

In New Zealand, it was shown on TVNZ 1 (originally TV One) in the late 1970s.

In the United States, episodes of Paddington aired on PBS; on the syndicated series Romper Room; on Nickelodeon as a segment on the programme Pinwheel; on USA Network as a segment on Calliope; between preschool programs on The Disney Channel; on HBO in between features; and (from the late 1980s to the 1990s) as a segment on the programme Lunch Box.

Specials
The BBC broadcast three Paddington television specials:


 * Paddington Goes to the Movies (1983)
 * 21 minutes. Paddington visits the cinema for the first time, and performs Gene Kelly's famous dance routine from the 1952 film Singin' in the Rain.


 * Paddington Goes to School (1984)
 * 25 minutes. A truancy officer insists that Paddington must attend school due to his age. Paddington performs "Flight of the Bumblebee" on violin. Colour was added to all the 2-D animation and backgrounds.


 * Paddington’s Birthday Bonanza (1987)
 * 24 minutes. Paddington becomes a one-man band to raise money to buy a birthday present for Mr. Brown.Colour was added to all the 2-D animation and backgrounds. This is the first and only production in which the animated characters' mouths move when they speak. Original air Date: 26 December 1987

Educational Special

 * Paddington's Alphabet Treasure Hunt (1993)
 * 30 minutes. Paddington enters the Great Alphabet Treasure Hunt and has to find something for every letter of the alphabet. But he soon gets attacked by a W for wasp and gets himself in a mess as usual.

In popular culture
Paddington is seen in four adverts for Marmite in the late 2000s.

DVD
In Region 2, Abbey Home Media Group released the entire series on DVD-Video in the UK on 23 June 2008 (Cat. No. AHEDVD 3318). The 2-disc set features all 56 short episodes as well as the 3 TV specials.

In Region 1, Mill Creek Entertainment (under licence from Cookie Jar Group) released the complete series on DVD on 15 February 2011 in a 3-disc set entitled Paddington Bear- The Complete Classic Series.

VHS
In 1980, Thorn EMI Entertainment released six VHS video cassettes in the UK, each with five episodes from the first series. They released two more cassettes in 1982, each with five episodes from the second series. In August 1983, they released a single video cassette featuring ten episodes from the second series. In December 1983, they released the TV special of Paddington Goes to the Movies on a single video cassette along with five episodes from the second series.

In June 1987, Screen Legends released two single video cassettes containing five episodes from the first series on each one.

In Autumn 1987, Screen Legends released a "Double Bumper Issue" video cassette containing 10 episodes from the first series on it.

In 1988, Screen Legends had released a single video cassette with 10 episodes on it.

In 1988, Screen Legends had released a 'Watch and Play'-type video with five stories from the first series on it.

On 4 March 1991, Abbey Home Entertainment released two videos with 10 stories on each tape.

On 15 July 1991, Abbey Home Entertainment released a special edition video with 12 episodes on it.

On 9 September 1991, Abbey Home Entertainment released a Christmas-themed video with 10 episodes on it.

On 19 September 1994, BMG Video released a single video cassette with the three feature length specials on it.

On 28 December 1994, Abbey Home Entertainment released a single video release with eight episodes from the second series on it.

On 3 April 1995, Abbey Home Entertainment released a 3 hour biggest ever video cassette with 37 episodes on it.

On 18 March 2002, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd released a single video cassette with ten episodes from the first series on it.

On 22 July 2002, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd released a seaside-themed bumper video with nine episodes from the second series on it.

On 21 April 2003, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd released two videos with seven episodes on each one.

UK DVD Releases
Between 2006 and 2007, three DVD releases of "Paddington Bear" were published by Abbey Home Media in the 'Tempo TV Classics' range of children's DVD releases.

On 8 October 2007, Abbey Home Media released two of the TV specials on a single DVD release.

On 27 October 2008, Abbey Home Media released a suitcase-shaped DVD box set with four single DVD releases in one box-set.

On 21 May 2012, Abbey Home Media released four episodes from the first series and eight episodes from the second series which were compiled together as twelve London-themed episodes on a single DVD release.

On 18 April 2016, to coincide with the Queen's 90th birthday, Abbey Home Media released a special "Royal Celebration"-themed DVD release which contained the three TV specials altogether on one single disc.