On the Road: Hugh

On the Road Paddington’s marmalade hangover

Working with the darling bear from darkest Peru was a joy – until he hit the orange stuff, says co-star Hugh Bonneville

Paddington is our Oldie of the Year for 2022. What’s it like acting opposite Paddington – presumably you don’t actually see him? Oh, I saw him – absolutely. And I get very cross with people who claim that he doesn’t exist. It’s like saying Father Christmas doesn’t exist. It’s true that sometimes he didn’t come out of his trailer – if he had a headache brought on by having hit the marmalade a bit hard the night before. So sometimes an actress who was the same height as Paddington would walk through his scenes, and sometimes a stick with a bit of sticky tape at the height of his eyes would have to suffice. But by lunchtime it was usually the bear from darkest Peru gracing us with his presence.

Where was Paddington filmed? Largely at Leavesden Studios and at Elstree; also on location in London.

Why is Paddington so high in the country’s affections, particularly since the Queen’s death? Paddington first emerged in the late ’50s and has been a staple of British childhoods ever since. Her late Majesty bought into the joke of another national treasure coming to have tea with her, and the charm of the sketch gained poignancy with her passing.

Anything you can’t leave home without? The universal travel plug is something I shouldn’t leave home without, but always do.

Do you travel light? Returning to the UK from filming in Ireland recently, I waited longer at Heathrow’s baggage reclaim than I had spent in the air. So in publicising my book, I’ve resolved it’s carry-on only: one suit throughout the tour, plus a selection of shirts, bras and knickers.

What’s your favourite destination? My wife Lulu has a men’s-shirt business, Indigo Island, and she does photoshoots in Ibiza. It’s beautiful and peaceful and Lulu’s convinced the ley lines help us to sleep better. I think it’s the rosé.

Earliest childhood holiday memories? Camping in France. My parents had an enormous canvas tent and they lugged it around on top of an old Volvo. I remember having an afternoon nap and a wasp planting itself in my ear and me screaming and a guy in a tent two doors down coming to the rescue. He turned out to be a Belgian physician who had industrial quantities of antihistamines. He and his family became lifelong friends.

Did you always want to act? I always enjoyed acting, from childhood, but it was never something I considered as a profession until I got to university. I thought I would just give it a couple of years, see whether I could get my Equity card and otherwise get a proper job. That was 35 years ago and I’m still waiting for the tap on the shoulder.

Was anyone in your family in the theatre? My brother and sister were both very good amateurs. I used to love watching them in their school plays, and my dad was a wonderful piano player. So I guess my interest was nurtured rather than genetic.

Did you act at school and at Cambridge? I did plays in our echoey school hall and then joined the National Youth Theatre when I was 16. Spending the next few summers putting on shows with kids from all over the country was a meltingpot of excitement for me. And I did a lot of acting at Cambridge.

Do you prefer theatre or TV and film? The collaborative experience and the bonds you make in a theatre rehearsal room are usually longer-lasting, and the live experience is infinitely preferable. Film sets are about hurry up and wait. Then again, the pay’s better.

How was it being in Downton for all those years? Had you had enough? Julian Fellowes kept the characters alive and the stories fizzing for six seasons, but we all agreed the time had come to end the television version. The two movies were the icing on the cake.

What’s the most exotic location you’ve filmed in? I love being paid to go abroad. Ouarzazate in the desert in the south of Morocco was fairly exotic, when we were filming a TV version of Ben-Hur, and the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa for Man to Man.

What’s the worst place you’ve filmed in? There was a period in the ’90s and the 2000s when the Isle of Man had generous tax breaks. So every rotten cowshed was turned into a film studio.

Where did you go on your honeymoon? We went to Venice for four days in November. The sky was piercing blue – the most beautiful weather.

Do you have a go at the local language? I can ask the whereabouts of a post office in France and I can understand where the post office is in Germany.

What are your top travelling tips? Arriving in a country you’ve never visited before, be prepared to look a nitwit and be ripped off on your first day.

Playing Under the Piano by Hugh Bonneville (Abacus) is out now