Paris can be divided into two types of people.

Those who'd believe you when you said there was an enormous beaver living in the Canal

San Martin and those who wouldn't believe you.

Urban legend.

I've seen it, no less than three times.

Is this like our Canal Lochness?

So, after hearing an animated debate about the existence of this beaver,

I decided to dig a little bit deeper.

But I had no idea that my digging would reveal a monstrously bigger story. So here comes that story,

one that took me on twists, turns, through the sewers of Paris and to the office of a Paris

mayor, and out to the far corners of France, Australia and deepest Africa.

So get comfortable, for here comes a story about Paris that I guarantee you've never heard before.

So, full confession, this episode started almost like a bit of a joke, delving into the mystery of a huge beaver in the Canal Samarantan.

I'd seen the beaver

and uh i knew others had seen it i knew others didn't believe it but i had to you know look around

a little bit more to see what people would say but firstly if you've never heard of the canal sammartin

it runs through the 10th arundissement of paris it's a bit like a kind of magnet for hipsters and young people who go and hang out

in the summer and have a, you know, have a drink, have a picnic. And it's probably most famously now

known as the scene where Amelie was skimming the stones in the 2001 hit film Amelie. I loved the

idea of doing an episode about this canal, but even more so about this huge beaver,

you know, talking to witness, getting their testimonials, maybe meeting some interesting characters along the way.

And everything was going according the plan.

...