I play Michael Protheroe who is the Head Keeper in London Zoo (so called 1910th and 1930th) and he's a man who's greatly fond of animals, but not fond of children. And he;s asked to take this bear cub during the First World War (which is Winnie, of course), because Harry and his friends (who are the heroes of the film) have not been able to smuggle her in somehow...

What drew me to it is simply the writing of the script – the story, I just thought it was a delightful way to tell a story, a true story about the bear who became very famous, and on the surface the story is no more than that kind of thing you see in the films about the animal and particular human being and, you know, and somebody hates it as an enemy...

So what makes it very different it's a context of Canada's participation in a First World War, and so without any striving or any effort on the part of the writing, it's somehow has a kind of depth and extra interest that very few other films of this 'nature' do... So I just think it’s a delightful story...