McFly musician Tom Fletcher has announced he will be working on a new Paddington stage musical, which will open November 1 at the Savoy Theatre in the West End.
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The show will follow the loveable Paddington Bear, as he travels from Peru to find a new home in London. It will be based on Michael Bond’s original novels, but arrives from the success of the Paddington film trilogy and TV series.
Fletcher has worked on the show with scriptwriter Jessica Swale, and director Luke Sheppard. Speaking to BBC News, he discussed the project, promising to “do Paddington proud”, and saying that the numbers for the musical are “my favourite songs I’ve ever written”.
He remarked that he felt “so honoured and lucky” to be involved in a project that would bring “all of the fun, warmth and heart that the books and movies have captured so brilliantly”. “There is something so magical about seeing Paddington step out on to the stage,” he added, “and seeing him… I was about to say in the flesh, but I guess in the fur is more accurate”.
The character first appeared in Bond’s 1958 book A Bear Called Paddington, and has since become a family favourite for generations of children. The film series, which ran from 2014-2024, starred Ben Whishaw as the voice of the lead character, and renewed interest in the stories. There are statues of Paddington in many countries, including Paddington rail station, from which he gets his name.
The film version of the character even appeared in a short film with the late Queen Elizabeth II, as part of the celebrations for the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Her appearance was also posthumously captured in the third film, Paddington in Peru, where a photograph of her used with the Royal Family’s permission.