BEAR NECESSITIES: Famous fictional bears

Grizzly Bear Cubs And Me (9pm, BBC2) follows Gordon Buchanan as he helps to return cubs to the wild. Here are some of our favourite fictional bears from page and screen…

Winnie-the-Pooh (1924) The beloved toy bear (below) first came to life in A.A. Milne’s books, having adventures in Hundred Acre Wood with his friends. Strictly for grown-ups, pottymouthed Ted is the talking teddy bear friend of Mark Wahlberg’s John Bennett in the 2012 movie and its 2015 sequel.

Yogi and Boo-Boo (1958) HannaBarbera’s hungry bear first appeared as a supporting player in The Huckleberry Hound Show. With his sidekick, Boo-Boo, Yogi lives in Jellystone Park, and likes to think that he is ‘smarter than the average bear’. After decades as a cartoon bear, Yogi finally made his live-action debut in 2010 (left).

Paddington (1958) Children’s author Michael Bond created the polite little bear from Peru, who came to London and made friends and marmalade sandwiches. Delighting generations, he is voiced by Ben Whishaw in two live-action films in 2014 and 2017 (right).

Iorek Byrnison Heroic and loyal, polar bear Iorek is an exiled king and a fearsome warrior from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. The first book, Northern Lights (1995), was adapted for the screen as The Golden Compass (2007), with Ian McKellen providing the voice of Iorek (right).