Ben Whishaw didn't get to travel to South America with Paddington in Peru cast

Ben Whishaw didn't get to travel with the rest of the 'Paddington in Peru' cast.

The 44-year-old actor has reprise his role as the beloved bear for the third film in the franchise, but he wasn't able to join the cast and crew on location in South America.

Speaking to Simon Mayo on his Greatest Hits Radio 'Drivetime' show, he said: "I did not leave Lexington Street where the post-production place is - I was just in the basement there the whole time.

"I would have liked [to have gone to Peru] but it was never even an option!"

Ben opened up on his lengthy recording process, which stars with him watching a cut of the movie with "no bear" on screen.

He explained: "You’ve got the script on a music stand, the film on a big screen but - at least when we begin - it’s at the very rough early stage of being edited so there’s no bear.

"Sometimes there’s a sketch, that doesn’t move, and sometimes there’s a tennis ball in place of Paddington and I wear a camera on my head that films my face and then you just have a crack at it.

"It’s a stab in the dark to begin with, you have no idea really what you’re doing, because there is no Paddington at that point."

He noted it can take around 12 months to complete, because of how "complex" it is to animate Paddington himself alongside the live action cast.

He added: "It takes a long time the whole process – from start to finish it’s a year, not every day obviously, or even every week, but it takes a year because it’s so enormously complex to animate the bear."

Meanwhile, Ben admitted he and Paddington definitely don't agree when it comes to the bear's love for marmalade sandwiches.

He said: "It is me making the noise when you hear when you see Paddington eating marmalade sandwiches [on screen] but I really can’t stand marmalade, it doesn’t agree with me.

"So, what you hear is me eating bread or sometimes I munch on fruit or even my own hand!"