Spitting Image...? More like spitting feathers over Paddington puppet

High Court fight against satirical show’s grizzly bear

- By Frances Millar

Bear cheek...'Pads' on Spitting Image. Above, beloved Paddington in film

PADDINGTON Bear’s polite world of marmalade sandwiches and kindness has turned grizzly as his owners launch a High Court battle over a “frightening” puppet version.

Lawyers for film makers StudioCanal and Paddington and Company claim Spitting Image has depicted the beloved children’s character as an alcoholic and heroin user.

They are pursuing legal action against the satirical puppet show’s producers Avalon, demanding that the foulmouthed caricature is delivered to them or destroyed, according to court documents.

Spitting Image returned after 24 years in 2020 and is now on YouTube in short-form vodcast-style episodes called The Rest Is Bulls*!t — a nod to the Goalhanger Podcasts that begin with “The Rest Is”.