Hide the marmalade! Paddington Bear is back

The fluffy accident-prone favourite is donning his red wellies and duffle coat for a magical new ‘experience’ that is half-theatre and half-party. Our writer braces herself for a look behind the scenes

An almighty crash sounds from above. “Everything’s fine, Mrs Brown!” a voice calls out. I peek my head round the door of 32 Windsor Gardens. On the winding stairs sits a pair of little red wellies, as if someone rather small and accident-prone has just slipped them off and scampered upstairs.

This is The Paddington Bear Experience, which has just moved into London’s County Hall, next to the Sea Life aquarium on the banks of the Thames. A cross between a film set, a theatre show and a party, the 70-minute experience presents a rose-tinted world spun from Michael Bond’s beloved stories about the bear from darkest Peru, slightly heightened and slightly magical.