[Shaun]

Paddington Bear has been voted Britain's best animated character of all time.

The cuddly bear from darkest Peru beat a shortlist of other distinguished characters including Super Ted, Aleksandr Meerkat and Wallace and Gromit to the title.

The announcement was made at the ninth British Animation Awards which took place in London.

Other winners included The Gruffalo, Aardman Animations and Harry Potter.

The Tale of the Three Brothers, part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, picked up the award for best animated sequence in a film.

Gorillaz, the animated band fronted by Blur frontman Damon Albarn, took home one of the public choice awards for best video for their track Stylo.

Bertie Crisp by Francesca Adams - voiced by Kathy Burke, Tamsin Greig and Mark Benton - won in the best short film category.

Votes for the public awards were cast at more than 20 screenings across the UK.

Paddington Bear was created by former BBC cameraman Michael Bond, and his first book was published in 1958.

The popular stories were first made into an animated TV series in 1975 and have been reimagined a number of times.

The Paddington books have sold more than 35 million copies around the world and have been translated into more than 40 languages.

Stupid decision, he's going to be an unbearable little prick about this now.