Paddington Bear given UK passport by Home Office

Everyone’s favourite bear – unless you’re still in Winnie’s corner or championing the angry one from Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man – has been granted an “official” British passport from the Home Office.

Rob Silva, the co-producer of the upcoming third instalment in the stellar film series about the beloved Peruvian bear, has revealed he has been granted a passport for his travels in Paddington in Peru.

Silva told the Radio Times: “We wrote to the Home Office, asking if we could get a replica, and they actually issued Paddington with an official passport – there’s only one.”

“You wouldn’t think the Home Office would have a sense of humour, but under official observations, they’ve just listed him as Bear,” he added.

They’ve listed Paddington as Paddington Brown, a British citizen whose birthday is 25 June and whose place of birth is, naturally, Peru, as he was brought up by his Aunt Lucy there after being orphaned. In Michael Bond’s books, Paddington was then sent to live in England with the Brown family.

In the upcoming film, the Marmelade-loving ursine returns to Peru with the Brown family to visit Aunt Lucy. However, circumstances take them on an adventure in the Peruvian mountains and the Amazon rainforest.

While some of the cast and crew filmed at various locations in Peru and Columbia, the voice actor of Paddington said he was stuck in a basement in London.

Ben Whishaw, who has been the voice of Paddington for all three films, told Radio Times: “I would have loved to have gone to Peru and Colombia, but I didn’t get to go. I was just in a basement in Soho the entire time.”

He added that he also didn’t get to meet his co-stars Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas, but that he enjoyed their performances “enormously”.

So, the passport was not truly needed.

However, the bear-y nice gesture made by the Home Office towards the duffel-coated bear has not been to the liking of some party poopers.

As reported by British tabloid The Sun, certain campaigners are not convinced the Home Office are using their time too well…

William Yarwood, media campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance told the tabloid that taxpayers “will be bewildered that a fictional bear received a passport.”

“While Home Office mandarins might find this amusing, ordinary Brits who are suffering under the department’s inability to control immigration or bring down crime won’t. Civil servants need to be snapped back into reality.”

It’s a specimen document for a fictional bear, sir. Get a grip and make yourself a Marmelade sarnie.

We all need some levity right now, not this:

Just so we’re clear here when using this still from Paddington 2, we don’t need Paddington referred to as an immigrant or detained to “keep Britain British.” We do need more of Paddington 2, which is one of the greatest sequels ever made, sitting comfortably alongside Aliens, Before Sunset, A Shot in the Dark and The Godfather Part II.

Paddington In Peru is out on 8 November.

Additional sources • Radio Times, The Sun