Paddington is a busy bear. From taking tea with the Queen to featuring on stamps and Google homepages, popping up in Marmite and Marks & Spencer advertisements, being immortalised in not one but two statues (in London and Lima) and with the third installment of his massively successful series of films heading this way later in the year.
Now he is the focus of an immersive “experience” in London, which is opening at London County Hall on the Southbank on May 31 – and tickets went on sale this morning.
Visitors, who will start their adventure at Paddington Station, will be invited to go on a mission to help the Brown family prepare for the Marmalade Day Festival. They will hop on a “full-sized train carriage” before being taken on an adventure “through the sights and sounds of London” to No. 32 Windsor Gardens, the home of Paddington’s adopted family, the Browns.
There they will also get to “meet their favourite characters” and explore parts of the Browns’ home, before – and we aren’t quite sure about how this happens – being transported to the magical jungle of Peru. The experience, which is being described as suitable for all ages, ends in a party at Windsor Gardens, which will include fairground games, marmalade sandwiches and calypso music.
The event has been written by Katie Lyons (Peaky Blinders: The Rise), directed by creative collective Immersive Octopus, and designed by Rebecca Brower (Doctor Who: Time Fracture in the West End). The Path Entertainment Group, the team behind Monopoly Lifesized and the immersive SAW: Escape Experience, are producing.
The Paddington Bear Experience opens on the 66th anniversary of British author Michael Bond’s first Paddington book. There are now 28 in the series, which has been translated into 40 languages, and have sold more than 35 million copies.
The original story begins with the Brown family finding the disheveled bear at Paddington station, after he travelled all the way from deepest darkest Peru. They take him home and even though he causes havoc nearly everywhere he goes, he’s also charming and polite, and so he ends up staying with the Browns full-time. The books that follow detail Paddington’s escapades around London and the world.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2014, Bond, who died aged 91 three years later, said that the reason the little bear’s appeal has endured is that, “Paddington is eternally optimistic and always comes back for more, no matter how many times his hopes are dashed... he stands up for things, he’s not afraid of going straight to the top and giving them a hard stare.”
His lasting charm is undeniable: he has been adapted for the TV nine times since 1966, and was made into the popular live action film Paddington in 2014, which starred Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington. A sequel followed in 2017 and received three Oscar nominations. A third film, currently titled Paddington in Peru, is set to be released in November.
