Paddington first appeared on television in 1975 in a series of 30 five minute programmes which were designed and directed by Ivor Wood and made in the UK by FilmFair Ltd.
The films were made using a stop-start animation technique and were unusual in that they combined a three-dimensional Paddington puppet with two-dimensional backgrounds and other characters.
In 1979 a second series of 26 episodes were screened and they were awarded a silver medal at the New York Film and Television Festival, the first British animated series ever to win a major award.
All 56 episodes were written by Michael Bond and narrated using the wonderfully distinctive voice of Sir Michael Hordern.
These were followed by three half hour television specials, including "Paddington Goes to the Movies" in which Paddington was seen dancing the famous Gene Kelly routine from "Singing in the Rain".
Nine years later an animated cartoon series was made by the US company, Hanna-Barbera.
Then in the late 1990s a brand new, fully animated cartoon series was made by the Canadian company, Cinar. Unlike the earlier FilmFair series, all the characters were given voices. Although many of the episodes were based on original stories from the books, new storylines were also introduced which took Paddington and his friend, Mr. Gruber to different countries and places throughout the World.
