Mary Tourtel was created in 1920, at a time when the "Express" was in competition with "The Daily Mail" and its then popular comic strip "Teddy Tail", as well as the strip "Pip, Squeak and Wilfred" in "The Daily Mirror". The then news editor of the "Express", Herbert Tourtel, was approached with the task of producing a new comic strip to rival those of the "Mail" and "Mirror" and immediately thought of his wife Mary, already an established author and artist. Rupert Bear was the result and was first published as a nameless character in a strip titled "Little Lost Bear" on
Rupert Bear series, with many of the stories being almost direct adaptations of his or others' panel stories from the "Daily Express". It was broadcast in syndication on YTV in Canada. In the United States the show first aired on Nickelodeon before moving to CBS in January 1999; repeats of the series came to Qubo's digital service in January 2007. The show was broadcast in the UK on CITV. In Australia, the show was broadcast on the ABC and on TV2 in New Zealand as part of the Jason Gunn show. The series has been re-aired in the UK on the satellite