Paddington Bear’s producers have filed a High Court lawsuit against the makers of Spitting Image over its foul-mouthed and drug-themed parody of the iconic children’s character.
The satirical puppet show, revived on YouTube under the title Spitting Image: The Rest Is Bulls**,* featured a sketch that reimagined the gentle, marmalade-loving bear as a crude, cocaine-fuelled caricature.
In the clip, which also includes a puppet version of Prince Harry as a podcast co-host, Paddington introduces himself by declaring: “I am from Peru, motherf******. I am Paddington Bear from Peru.”
Asked about his “personal glow”, the bear replies that his self-care regime involves taking “100 per cent Peruvian, biodynamic, organic, catastrophic cocaine”.
Paddington’s rights holder — StudioCanal, which produced Paddington, Paddington 2 and the franchise’s third big screen outing Paddington in Peru — has lodged a High Court complaint citing copyright and design rights concerns, according to Deadline.
The legal filing does not specify the damages sought, but targets Spitting Image production company Avalon, just months after the YouTube series launched.
The Rest Is Bulls**,* a spin-off of the long-running puppet show, parodies the popular Goalhanger podcasts such as The Rest Is History and The Rest Is Entertainment. Its sketches have featured celebrity send-ups of Elon Musk, Meghan Markle and Taylor Swift, as well as satirical ads for guns and robot sex dolls.
In another segment, Paddington jokes that he starred in a Netflix series about drug lord Pablo Escobar, calling himself “Pablo Esco-bear”.
Prince Harry’s puppet adds: “I’m here to tell my truth and make a s*** tonne of money out of podcasting as I don’t have any discernible talent.”
The Standard has contacted representatives for Avalon and StudioCanal for comment.
Since its launch this summer, Spitting Image’s YouTube revival has attracted more than 10 million viewers. But not all reactions have been positive — with some fans accusing the show of “ruining” their childhood memories of Paddington and calling the depiction “disrespectful”.
The controversy comes after Spitting Image returned to screens via BritBox in 2020 before moving online. As the series marked its 40th anniversary last year, critics suggested the show was suffering something of a midlife crisis.
